Fragile and Forcible
by NebulaHeroine
Summary: Law and Kidd have been partners in crime for a while now - Law being a hacker and Kidd a robber. One day Law leaves Kidd to work on his own. When Law learns about a department called the CID, he looks up a man called Smoker to be able to join the department. But what are Law's motives behind joining a governmental movement? /KidLaw, SmoLaw, one-sided DofLaw, MarAce/
1. Chapter 1

**Yooo! :)**

**Another multi-chapter fic! This fic is dedicated to Amaitsumi for being super hard-working and translating both fics and doujinshis + the One Piece manga chapters! APPLAUSES TO HER!**

**Ok so this whole fic might be super messy and stuff, which I get, but seriously, just ask if it's too messy, or message me. :) **

**Pairings in this fic will probably be KidLaw, SmoLaw, maybe a lil' MarAce and a lil' BartoLaw and a lil' ZoLu/ZoSan, who knows ;)**

**Also, I DO NOT have a Beta, and admittedly, I'm super lazy with reading through so you WILL find errors in my text. :3**

**~Enjoy~**

* * *

><p><em>The boy, who had a heart, lost it the day he lost everything else.<em>

_The boy, who had a family, lost it the day he lost his heart._

_The boy, who had a face of glass, lost it the day he lost his family,_

_and enveloped himself in hard, unbreakable metal._

_The boy never became glass again._

C

The view was magnificent, but no matter how breathtaking the landscape of illuminating buildings was, it was not a thing that his attention should have been drawn to. It just felt so vastly godlike to stand there, having an overview of a metropolis like Mariejois, the most expensive unit in the New World, whilst being enveloped by the darkness of the night. The feeling just grew even more matchless when you had Crocodile Banana just beneath you, making you feel in charge of the building that stored all of Alabasta's money. And Alabasta was the most successful casino in the entire world for the moment. Well, that was going to change soon.

A small wind passed and Law shuddered unnoticeably. Standing there on top of the hotel building granted him the possibility to witness a breathtaking view, but it also exposed him to different kinds of winds – mostly to the cold and nasty kinds, unfortunately.

"Yo, Trafalgar", his voice was as annoying as usual, but Law didn't care. "Sorry I'm late, my babe had some trouble getting started." Law knew the redhead referred to his motorcycle. "I fixed it tho', it's currently hidden inside Banana-land, haha." Law felt how he grinned behind him. "Oh you in a bad mood? Sorry."

"No I'm not in a bad mood you're just very blabbative", Law had coined the word 'blabbative' when meeting Eustass Kidd the first time. The redhead loved to talk, so could be described as talkative, but most of the things that came through his mouth was just stupid blabbering, thus the word blabbative had been coined. Law turned around and looked at the redhead. Kidd was dressed in black, wearing loose pants, a belt with different kinds of weapons and a tight shirt, making one see just how buff his upper body really was. He was also carrying a black leather bag.

"Did ya bring your laptop, Lawsy?" Kidd asked, obviously referring to the stupid backpack that Law was carrying.

"I brought it. And please don't call me Lawsy. At least spare me from doing that in public. I thought we had cleared that out already", Law crossed his arms and turned around again, to look at the illuminated building, named Crocodile Banana. The name was utterly ridiculous, and Law couldn't help but to wonder who on earth was stupid enough to name a building _Crocodile Banana. _The building was made of glass and looked like a snow globe. It was rather tawdry.

"Yea sorry, sorry, Lawsy", Law just grunted unhappily upon hearing that Kidd didn't even try to stop using that nettlesome nickname. "So like, if you're ready, we could just go." Kidd walked up to Law, also admiring the view. "Pretty neat view huh. Sure you don't wanna come live with me? I'm currently renting a place a few blocks from here."

"Let's discuss that later, it has nothing to do with this. Besides, I'm getting a little tired of living like this. Let's just get this over with."

"Right, right. Wait… Whaddya mean tired of living like this?" Kidd took out the security ropes from his black leather bag. Law had always told him that the bag looked like a bag where you hid corpses, and that it was way too suspicious. Of course, the redhead never listened to a single word that was spoken by Law, the only exception being when Law initiated sex.

"Like I just said, let's talk later", Law took the security ropes and strapped them around his darkly clothed body. He tightened the ropes in a used manner – he had done this countless times before after all. Kidd also underwent the same procedure, strapping the ropes around his body, securing himself from a certain death.

"Whatever. You really are in a bad mood today, huh?" taking the ends of the two security ropes, Kidd put them together and finally attached them to a Spider Web, a small device that could be attached anywhere and would really remain attached as long as it wasn't subjected to too much pressure. Too much pressure could for instance be more than three persons hanging with ropes from it. If this was to happen the device would stop working and come loose. Law always joked that the Spider Web wouldn't be able to bear with them, because of Kidd's weight. Kidd attached the small device to the roof of the building while the small device rolled in their ropes. The Spider Web would then roll it out again, when the two of them would start climbing down.

"Is it secured?" Law asked, nodding towards the small black device with green small lights. It looked rather adorable, like a small spider with green eyes.

"Now it is. It will hold for 15 minutes, so we'll have to finish this in 10 minutes to be able to get out again", Kidd said, looking at Law to make sure it was okay.

"That's fine. 10 minutes is more than enough."

The Spider Web finished with rolling in the ropes, making a small cute ding-dong noise to inform the user that it was finished. It left Kidd and Law with only short stumps of rope.

"Ok, I'll tap it and the timer will start", Kidd said, putting his left foot on the edge of the roof. Law stood up on edge, putting on the stupid goggles that Kidd had gotten him for Christmas last year. Law just didn't have the heart not to use them, especially not since Kidd had made them himself. Kidd tapped the small device gently, it blinked for a while until it let out another cute ding-dong sound and the timer started.

Both Law and Kidd immediately jumped down from the roof, being brought down safely thanks to the Spider Web. Kidd was a little before Law, because of their weight difference. They got down on the building built of pure glass.

"Holy shit, there are literally only robots guarding this place", Kidd muttered as he pressed his face on the glass to look inside. "Ah, I can see my precious from here!" Once again the dense redhead was blabbering about his dear motorcycle.

"Shut up about that stupid metal monster. It's probably one thousand years old. Who drives with gas anymore, anyway?" Law said angrily, taking out his small ballpoint pen, double clicked it so that it let out a hot, thin and piercing laser beam. He neatly cut a hole in the glass. "If you whine about that bike again, I'll make this hole too small for you." Law took of his goggles when he had finished cutting the glass with the laser ballpoint pen.

"Too late, you already made it big enough", Kidd helped Law to remove the piece of glass that had been cut. "I'll go in first, because I got down first." Kidd jumped down, the Spider Web still making him fall safely. Seriously, they had been so lucky that they had come across that device; it had made their lives so much more comfortable.

"You're such a kid…" the dark-haired male muttered, obviously annoyed, as he rolled his golden eyes. He waited for Kidd to reach the ground, so that the stupid robots guarding the place would react. They were too much of simpletons to recognize that someone just had cut a hole in the ceiling, so someone had to go down and be the bait.

"That's my name", Kidd chuckled and reached the ground – the alarm started screeching immediately. "How pestering…" The robots reacted just like they had known they would, Kidd took out his small gun from his left pocket – he was left-handed after all. It was more comfortable for him to have it like that.

Shooting down the white guarding robots with precise accuracy, Kidd avoided being shot by them. They had been shot before they had had the chance to even aim at Kidd. Law would never admit it out loud, but it was in these kinds of situations that he was able to find Kidd incredibly admirable and endlessly attractive.

"Come down, loser", Kidd shouted to Law. "I'll go destroy more of these white idiots."

Law didn't bother to reply, as Kidd just unstrapped himself and ran away, obviously excited about the whole thing. The redhead was such a brat. The dark-haired man smoothly came down, completely safe from the robots thanks to Kidd who was shooting them down. Or kicking them down. He liked to challenge robots to combat fight him after all. Not that the robots understood that they had been challenged, they only comprehended that they were being destroyed. Law almost strained himself to let out a sigh, but found that to be completely and utterly unnecessary.

Law unstrapped himself as well, releasing himself from the ropes, which so diligently had helped him down. He checked his pockets and was pleased to find that everything was in their rightful places. Then he noticed a white robot that Kidd hadn't spotted yet, took out his gun and shot it down. It would also be unfortunate if the robots would be able to recognize their faces. Places like Crocodile Banana had stopped using security cameras, completely trusting their robots. The only problem with that was that there had been developed weapons, which Kidd and Law used for example, that were able to shoot down robots like Crystal Flakes.

"Lawsy, I'm done with these robots here. Connect your laptop, there's a hotspot around the corner", Kidd shouted, coming back from his round. He seemed a little disappointed. There probably hadn't been as many robots as he had wished for. "I'll go and get rid of some more, they are fun to destroy!"

Law rolled his eyes again, feeling how his ambient started spinning. He knew he had eaten too little again. There was no use regretting that now, however. He'd just have to eat more next time. Law followed Kidd who was running away to find more robots to destroy, mostly because the redhead wanted to collect the parts of the robots to use them for something. The stupid man with scarlet colored hair probably had a project going on.

Finding the hotspot with ease, Law took off his backpack and opened his laptop with dispatch. It didn't take long for him to connect it to the system. The problem wasn't connecting, the problem was to destroy the system. His eyes scanned over the scene in a conditioned manner, his hands moving on their own to get connected. Then he placed the laptop on the floor, kneeled by it, stretched his neck quickly, and let his hands start to work. To break a code as complex as the one used for Crocodile Banana wasn't easy – but it wasn't impossible. Especially not for him.

He was the Surgeon of Death – a surgeon whose everlasting patient was the internet that Law tended to call Death.

Hacking into systems reminded Law a lot of operations, they were also finicky and small details would be vital in order to success. Not that Law ever had operated on real humans. He was content with just hacking into banks or government files.

The screen flickered with numbers in a manner that probably would have scared someone who had never tried anything alike before. Law, however, just squinted his eyes gently and worked with the numbers until they started to look like he wanted them to.

He could literally hear how the hacking affected the building; the alarm died out, the robots stopped talking and the noise of robots driving around ceased. Law knew he had succeeded.

"Operation succeeded", he mumbled for himself, pressing enter, allowing himself to download all the files about the casino. He smiled at the screen in a satisfied manner, failing to hear the steps running towards him. Or maybe he heard them, but just knew it was his stupid redhead partner.

He jumped a little when he heard a gun being unsecured and felt it being pointed at him.

"What the fuck are you doing, little kitty cat? Playing surgeon again, huh?"

Fuck. Law bit his under lip, looking up at the cop. He knew there probably were more cops on their way. Fuck it, how the fuck were they caught? Someone must have seen them through the windows of the hotel, despite their carefulness, and reported them. Or then maybe a robot had seen them and been able to detect their faces.

"I'm not a fucking kitty cat." Law glared at the policeman, trying to come up with a decent plan to get out of the bothersome situation. Nothing crossed his mind. Where was Kidd when you needed him?

Just as if Kidd had been able to read his mind, he arrived through a random door and kicked the policeman in his face. The kick was technically perfect – his left foot hit the policeman perfectly, while his right foot, still on the ground, had spun around in a perfect half-circle when the kick had been performed. His upper body had been held still, in an artistically beautiful angle. Once again, Law caught himself admiring the man with his hair that had the color of an elegant, fire-like ruby.

"Yea, cuz he's my fucking kitty cat", Kidd smirked and took out a gun, pointing in it on the cop who now lay on the ground, whining about the pain. "Stay right there you lil' freak."

"Thanks Eustass-ya, but I'm not your damsel in distress. I can take care of myself", Law muttered, recognizing that his portable device was done with receiving the files. "Did you take any money, you brute?" Law disconnected the laptop, put it back into his backpack and put the backpack on his back.

"I filled this", pointing at the black leather bag he was carrying on his bag, Kidd smirked. "And trust me, I know you can take care of yourself. I just love saving you – I rarely get to do so 'cuz you always manage to do things on your own."

"Well, I hate being saved. I want to do things on my own", Law walked next to Kidd, looking at the cop. "Just shoot him with one of my Tranquillisitases." Law handed over a small capsule that Kidd loaded his small gun with. "It'll make him unable to move. If his friends don't find him in time, he'll die of the explosion, but that wasn't our intention, so it's not our fault. Oh yea, did you set the bomb ready?"

"It's ticking a few meters from here", Kidd shot the Tranquillisitas, despite the policeman's desperate protests. Kidd managed to hit the cop skillfully in his shoulder, avoiding the most vital parts, yet hitting an area that quickly would spread the liquid of the Tranquillisitas through the cop's body. "Ok, let's get out of here."

"But what about your motorcycle? Weren't you supposed to drive it out from here too? …Wait, why did you even drive it in here in first place?" despite his unnerving confusion, Law followed Kidd who jogged back to their ropes. They still had a few minutes before the Spider Web would stop working and the bomb would go boom.

"Like you said yourself, it's old and rusty. I thought there would be no better way for it to go than to let it explode into thousands of pieces. I wouldn't be able to bear with the thought that someone else would have it and ride it", Kidd replied, attaching himself to the ropes again. "C'mon, hurry." He handed the other rope over to Law, who also strapped himself as quickly as possible. Kidd pulled the rope gently three times, until they were being pulled up again.

"Wow, so you actually listened to me this time", Law said sarcastically, feet not touching the ground anymore.

"I always do", this time Law was being pulled up before Kidd, making it possible for Kidd to ogle all over his partner's body clad in tight black clothes. "That outfit looks sexy on you, Lawsy."

"Seriously, if you don't stop using that nickname soon I'll fucking slay you."

A

The money was underneath the bed that just had been used for some rather wild activity. Clothes had been thrown to the floor and the lights were still on. The view from the window was amazing, but it wasn't as breath-taking as the view Law had seen up from the hotel next to Crocodile Banana.

Law sat by the end of the bed, not wearing anything at all for the moment. He heard how Kidd was showering. Their sex had been rather steamy this time, so Law understood why Kidd had craved to take a shower. He was actually craving to take a shower himself.

There was a nice contrast between the white and modern room, with the enormous aquarium filled with exotic kinds of fishes and then the night sky outside – the illuminated imperium of skyscrapers and other kinds of dull buildings. Kidd hadn't been lying when he had said that the vista was really nice, because it was winsome in its own enigmatic way.

Law's body felt sore and he was hungry. The lean, scrawny man stood up, picked up his boxers that had been thrown to the floor in a careless manner a few hours earlier. He didn't bother to dress himself with anything besides his underwear, and the proceeded to walk to the kitchen in the modern, neat apartment. He opened the metal-colored fridge and scanned it with his eyes in the same way he scanned codes on computer screens. Nothing looked delicious to him. He was having one of his worse periods again. No sleep, no appetite and no mood to socialize. Finally he just gave up and grabbed a protein shake. Kidd was obsessed with making them.

The shower stopped running and Law knew Kidd was done, but that it still would take a couple of minutes for Kidd to come out from the bathroom. The pale and freckled redhead would always spend a couple of minutes checking himself out in the mirror and applying different kinds of creams to keep his skin as godly smooth as it was.

Sitting down in the small cream-colored arm-chair, Law sighed and opened the protein shake. He heard voices ringing in his head. Laughter, cries, screams, blabbering. And then there were the gun shots. There were always the gun shots at some point. Eventually the dark-haired man with his golden eyes just felt too unsettled and was forced to stand up and walk in circles to calm himself down.

"_Big brother is always right, mom! It's so unfair!"_

"_You'll just have to get used to that, dear."_

And then the gunshots.

"_I hate bread, dad!"_

"_Don't worry Law, you don't have to eat it."_

And then the gunshots.

"_Come and play with me!"_

"_No way! Your stupid dolls are just way too lame!"_

And then the gunshots.

Law angrily pressed on the protein shake bottle and walked to the wide, window that covered an entire wall. It was made of gorgeous, completely clean glass. In some intricate way the view outside calmed him. Law calmed down and stood by the window, sipping on the protein shake, watching how some of the lights disappeared, people going to sleep. There were surprisingly many lights on though. Maybe people were busier nowadays and had to work nighttime too?

Kidd came out from the bathroom and saw Law standing by the window. Of course he had noticed that Law hadn't been himself lately. But he also knew that that was how he was, and that there was nothing that could be done about that. He also was aware of the fact that Law hated it when people asked him about his behavior or why he was feeling down. In Law's opinion, it wasn't anyone's business how he felt or why he was feeling like that.

Jumping a little when warm arms were wrapped around his slim torso, Law let out a small surprised sound. Kidd chuckled at the reaction he got, and leaned his head on Law's bony shoulder.

"Seriously, eat more. You're like a walking stick", Kidd chuckled, planting small, gentle kisses on the collar bones visibly sticking out from Law's body.

"Eustass-ya, I'm not coming back to Mariejois in a while anymore", Law said abruptly. Kidd quickly pulled away upon realizing what his lover was saying. The redhead turned the smaller male around and looked him in the eyes.

"Why is that?" this time, Kidd couldn't help but to question the smaller, golden-eyed man. His scarlet colored eyes tried to read his lover as well as possible, but Law was impossible to read and Kidd knew that all too well. The bigger man really hated to be unable to understand his lover. "Where are we going this time then?"

"I, not we. I'm going alone. There's something I have to do alone, and it will take a lot of time, a few years maybe. It is very important to me, Eustass-ya", uttering these words with sorrow flashing in his eyes, Law let his thin, long fingers dance on the jawline of his partner in crime. "And why now of all times, you are probably wondering. It's because I've finally settled with how I'm going to finish this. And besides, I've finally got what I want." Law referred to the information they had stolen from Crocodile Banana. It was openly known that Sir Crocodile, the owner of Alabasta, had a lot of business partners,and there was one person amongst these countless of business partners that Law was interested in finding. "I'm sorry but this is something I want to do on my own."

"Whatever you say. Just be careful."

"I will be."

"_But I still can't promise you I'll return alive",_ Law thought, closed his eyes and leaned into Kidd's warm chest. This was probably the last time he'd feel safe in a long while.

N

Café Oak was never filled with people. The place could merely be called a café. In fact, the place could be more or less classified as a cheap fast food place, not as a café. But the owner of the place had proudly named the shabby, cramped and old-fashioned place Café Oak, as if it was a fancy café with tasty Mediterranean sandwiches and focaccia with sun-dried tomatoes and blueberry tea and café au lait with soya milk. But it was none of those things. It was cheap, water-like black coffee with skimmed milk and artificial ham in your sandwiches, it was uncomfortable chairs and cold, drafty windows and hair in your fried eggs with bacon. When you asked for tea they only had Earl Grey. Law actually hated Café Oak, yet he had spent the past half year there every other day, sitting hours on end, sipping on a black coffee that tasted oddly flavored water.

Today was one of those days. Law sat down on his usual spot. But his name was not Law, his name was Sean. He was Sean, twenty-three years old and lived in the northern part of Punk Hazard. He was Sean who studied chemistry, with blonde hair, thick glasses and blue eyes, and no nasty bags underneath the eyes. Law, disguised as Sean, sat down, ordered the usual black water-like coffee, took the newspaper and started to read it slowly. Then he'd open his schoolbag and start working on non-existent essays.

No matter how much the blond wig tickled Law, or how dry and objectionable the blue contacts in his eyes felt, Law would not stand up and leave. He read the newspaper calmly, solved the crossword and sipped on the completely disgusting beverage. Every time someone stepped through the door, Law would unnoticeably raise his gaze to see who was entering the café.

On one of the less important pages in the newspaper, there was a small article about the robbery that had occurred six months earlier. It was about the Crocodile Banana incident. Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kidd had been the culprits, but no one had been able to find them. That night, Law had left Kidd when the redhead had fallen asleep, not even saying goodbye. He hadn't seen him ever since. Feeling a little guilty about the whole thing, Law took another sip of the now cold and even more disgusting beverage.

The door was opened and he lifted his gaze a little.

It was him. The silver-haired man arrived. He had broad-shoulders and smoked all of the time. He always stopped by after work, Law knew that. He was wearing a thick jacket, because of the cold weather outside; Punk Hazard was known for its bitingly cold winters and dryly hot summers – the climate had reached a complete polarization in Punk Hazard. Despite wearing the thick winter jacket, Law knew that the man was wearing a suit underneath it, and that he had finished his work day.

The man had come early today, the clock only ticked a little past four in the afternoon. Sometimes the man came around nine o'clock, forcing Law to suffer at the café for several hours. Today Law had been lucky, not having to sit there staring at the wall, desperately trying to kill some time. The scrawny man wearing his blond wig opened his school bag, took out his chemistry notebook and looked as if he was making his homework, all while observing the silver-haired man.

Law watched the man walk to the counter, lean on it and order his usual; beans and two boiled eggs with two toasted breads and a big cup of Earl Grey. This man was White Hunter Smoker, a well-known detective working for the CID, the Candy Investigation Department, a department that was not known by commoners. But Law knew, thanks to the information he had stolen from Crocodile Banana. Sir Crocodile was cooperating with the government, Law had suspected that all along. But there was one person who was even closer to the government, namely Bartholomew Kuma. That man was the government's dog, doing whatever they asked him to do. He had known about the CID. Amongst one of the files Law had stolen, there had been a sound recording about Sir Crocodile interviewing Bartholomew Kuma about the CID. Why that interview had been undergone and why it had been recorded was beyond Law's knowledge, but it had been enough for him to know that an apartment like this existed.

Through this recording he had learnt to know about Smoker, who apparently was a leading figure in the CID. Law wanted to know more about the department. So far Law only knew the following: The CID were fighting the CANDY movements. CANDY was a drug created by a group calling themselves the Family. Apparently CANDY was a drug that made people aggressive, addicted but most importantly, made them grow inhuman features and capabilities. CANDY was spreading fast and immensely, people who were jobless were desperate and accepted the jobs offered to them by the Family and didn't care if that meant that they had to inject that drug into their system, without knowing how it might affect their bodies. Some people react negatively, some positively. Some die, some survive. Nevertheless, the whole movement had grown enormous and had taken over an entire unit in the New World. The place that earlier had been called Prodence had now been renamed to C-26 – Candy-26, the number 26 marking the date the first death had occurred.

People of course knew about these CANDY incidents and were aware of the danger. A lot of people had been forced to evacuate from Prodence to other units. But common people did not know about the CID, it was a secret department after all. It was kept in secret so that it would be easier to spy on the enemy, Law suspected.

Right now Law was immensely interested in the CID though. He had his guesses who leaded the Family and he was dying to kill that person. That's why he had stolen that piece information from Crocodile Banana to begin with. That's why he had teamed up with Kidd when they had met in Saboady Archipelago, both known criminals. Hell, that's why he had been forced to become criminal in first place, to even survive. Anyway, when he had met Kidd, he had seen the great opportunity to work together with a skilled criminal whom he could take advantage of to reach his real goal.

Somewhere along the way of taking advantage of Kidd, Law had started to like the redhead though, which only had made things complicated. That's why it had been for the best to leave Kidd behind and solve things on his own, because if Kidd ever would be hurt because of him he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

And now Law had come this far. He had found Smoker, who maybe could fix him into the CID. And today was the day Law would finally make him move, press Smoker into a dead-end, forcing him to cooperate with Law. Even though Law was a criminal, he was the most skilled hacker on earth. He was sure that the CID could use him. He could gladly be used, as long as he would be able to use them too. He would do anything to reach his goal.

Law sat there, watching Smoker eat his food, pretending to do his homework. Just before Smoker was done eating, Law packed his stuff, drank the disgusting beverage in one long gulp and then walked over to the silver-haired man. He sat down by the counter, next to the broad-shouldered man who didn't even notice Law's arrival and just continued to eat his food calmly. Law sat there, coughing into his fist a little, pretending he was scrolling on his phone. When Smoker finally was done eating, Law leaned a bit closer and mumbled quietly and smoothly:

"I know where you live and I have placed a bomb in your apartment. If you don't meet me outside in 10 minutes, I will press his red shiny button, and it'll go boom. Okay? Now act as if nothing happened."

Law then smiled charmingly, noticing the strange looks people gave him. Smoker stopped dead in his movements, didn't even flinch. The guy was obviously a professional; someone who wasn't used to threats would be panicking completely right now. Instead of doing anything hasty, Smoker just said: "Yea, I'll stay away from your mother. I'll be there within 10 minutes to tell her I'm sorry for not coming last Saturday."

It was an utterly smart thing to say, all of the strange looks were directed somewhere else. They had gotten their explanation to the weird whispering and were now embarrassed for being so curious. At the same time, Smoker had been able to make Law understand that he was willing to cooperate. Law, in other hand, had a hard time not to laugh while he proudly sauntered out of Café Oak.

10 minutes later Smoker came out, looking angry. Law stood there shuddering, ten minutes had been ten minutes too long after all. Even though Law had been born and raised in the north, he still got cold easily. Smoker had his hand by his belt, obviously ready to pull out a gun.

"Okay so first of all, who the fuck are you?" Smoker asked, keeping his voice calm despite the swearing and the aggressive posture. The man really looked as if he was ready to kill someone.

"I'm Trafalgar Law, and I'd like to make an offer."

"Trafalgar..!" now Smoker lost his temper, his eyes twitching in anger and his teeth gritting. "Why the fuck are you here!? I thought you were hacking your way through Mariejois!"

"I was hacking my way through Mariejois until I found what I wanted. You work for a department calling themselves the CID, right?"

"H… How do you know that? That's top secret information", Smoker's voice became even more threatening. The man was very intimiditating but Law didn't let it stop him from getting what he wanted. Law could be even more hair-raising if he had to..

"I'm a hacker, how do you think?" Law said sarcastically. "Now enough chit-chatting. I'd like to work with you. With the CID."

"And what makes you think that a serious investigation department would ever take you in? You're a criminal and have hacked into banks and stolen top secret government files. How can we know that you aren't trying to get close to us just to steal more information?" Law looked at Smoker who really looked as if he was about to take out his gun and shoot him any moment now. "Not only that, you should be arrested and sent to prison. You are not allowed to go around freely anymore, not after what you've done."

"First of all, you are very short on staff at the CID. The work you do is dangerous and people lose their lives trying to kill those CANDY members. I'd be willing to join, and you guys wouldn't have to pay me. Second of all, if I'd like to have any more information, I would already have stolen it, so I'm not after any information. And finally, I'm a skilled hacker and could easily hack into the Family's system. I could be great use", Law said, still sensing how Smoker doubted him. "Fine then. Arrest me. Torture me. Test me with lie detectors. But when you've done all of that, give me a chance."

"Why would I give you a chance? You've been to my fucking place and put a fucking bomb in there."

"Oh yea, that was a lie. I have no idea where you even live. It was just an effective way to get you out here and chat with me", Law replied bluntly.

The expression on Smoker's face was priceless. He probably felt so incredibly tricked that it made Law smirk with malice.

"See? Told you I'm good", Law said, smirking like a satisfied feline. "And I'm also very handsome. Even policemen have told me that. Even _your _policemen have told me that."

Smoker's face twitched in annoyance. Of course he wasn't going to listen to a criminal. The only right thing to do was to call for back-up and catch Trafalgar Law once and for all. But when Smoker looked at the golden eyes shining so beautifully, he just felt like he had to give him a chance. But he couldn't – and wouldn't. So he pulled out his gun and pointed it towards the shuddering, scrawny, golden-eyed man.

"Game over, Trafalgar. You made a mistake and you're going to prison. Mistake number one; never assume that a policeman is kind only because he believes in justice."

D

Law wake up in the cramped prison cell, feeling dirty and smelling weird. He hadn't even been there for more than a week and he already hated it. Luckily, they hadn't put him in a cell with another criminal. He had been left alone, at least. And the prison guards were kind to him, even though one of them was a little creepy. All in all, prison wasn't as horrible as Law had imagined. Of course, it was cramped and bare and ugly and disgusting and all of those things, but he had survived living with much worse circumstances. Compared to those times, this was pure luxury. He had a bed, got food somewhat regularly and could chat with people. It wasn't half that bad. But he hated it because every minute he spent there, he felt how he drifted farer and farer away from his goal.

He felt like he had failed royally.

Which he had, by the way.

Smoker hadn't accepted his offer, and looking back at the whole thing, Law realized just how fucking naïve he had been. Just how fucking dense and childish. Actually, it wasn't the prison life that Law hated, he hated himself.

Law lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, counting how many weird stains there were up there. He wondered what the stains were, how they had gotten up there and if they tasted anything in particular. He would stay in prison for pretty many years, so maybe he at some point really would try to taste on those weird stains. Maybe if he'd just grow mad enough.

Somewhere far away he heard how the other prisoners were singing songs. He wondered if he'd grow to be like that. He had already started to grow a little insane, so who knew how he'd end up being. Maybe he'd become even worse.

Law closed his eyes again, feeling how the world spun around him. The prison cell smelled weird. Or then it was him. He wasn't sure anymore, everything smelled a bit odd.

"Wakey, wakey, Trafalgar, you have some guests", suddenly the prison guard was outside his cell, but Law didn't even bother to look up. Guest? Probably Kidd. Or maybe Smoker coming to tell him that he was dumb and naïve.

"Hey, Charlie, how do you think those stains got up there?" Law talked to the prison guard, pointing at the odd, slightly yellowish stains in the ceilings. "What do you think they are? Something lemonish maybe?" Law had grown to be oddly chatty while being in prison. He was usually not like this. But he was just so incredibly bored and he was being watched over almost 24/7, making it completely impossible for him to escape.

"So this is the future of the CID, huh. Doesn't look all too promising", the other voice made Law sit up immediately. He blinked a few times, not being sure if he saw things correctly. Why was Sengoku, the head of the government, visiting him? "Oh, so you've come to your senses."

"Why are you here?" Law quickly returned to his normal behavior. If Sengoku was here, he could always try to convince him to let him work for the CID. The dark-haired man had completely missed the first sentence Sengoku had said.

"I was told that you are interested in working for the CID. Is that true?"

"Yes it is. I'm willing to run all kinds of tests to prove that I'm serious about this."

"Well, you'll have to understand that tests are necessary, especially in your case. You are a criminal after all, Trafalgar. But I've come here to make a deal with you. I want you to work with the CID. You've been able to break into the government's system in the past, and that is a hard barrier to come through. My hackers and programmers were impressed by your abilities. They said they had never seen something like your work before. They have still not come up with a way to stop you", Sengoku remarked. He looked at Law who sat on the bed dumbfounded, wearing prison clothing. The man looked very vulnerable, in some way. "But there is a problem. We can't let you move freely. I want you to live with someone within the department as long as you work with the CID. You'll also be working for Smoker, both as an assassin and a hacker. You won't be allowed to move around in the CID building alone, so there will always be someone accompanying you. We also want to put wear a GPS locator, so we'll know where you are all of the time. If you are willing to meet all of these standards, you're in."

"I'm in."

"Great. You'll be released from prison immediately and will be brought to the CID and we'll run some tests on you. But first, please take a shower, you smell horrible."

Law didn't reply he just stood up as the prison guard opened the door. He had been lucky.

"Wait, I have one question first, Sengoku", Law looked up at the man clad in an expensive suit, wearing a stern expression. "Why Smoker?"

"He insisted. And he's good, he'll keep an eye on you. But like I said, he insisted. I don't know why."

"_He insisted?" _Law wondered, as Charlie pulled his arm gently, leading him to the showers.

Well at least he did get to work for the CID. He had read in some magazine few weeks ago that he would be lucky this month. Maybe horoscopes weren't complete bullshit after all.

Y

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><p>~Thanks for Reading~<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello!**

**Ok so I was pretty tired when I wrote this chappie so... (I mean, it was New Year's Eve yesterday after all...)**

**But I wanna thanks everyone who reviewed!**

**LaraLuvKakashi: Yea, Law really likes his little (big) redheaded idiot ( - v - ) And aah~ Thanks for being so kind! Smoker and Law aren't interacting very much yet, Smoker is pretty much for himself actually, but eventually they will of course! And thanks for reviewing! :3**

**YOO: Ahh, thanks for reading my fics! I really appreciate it! And now that you point it out, Kidd could be metrosexual! ( o v o ) And this chappie will have a little BartoLaw! ;3 Thanks for reviewing!**

**Guest: Law is always pretty cool, but hackers do have a charm of their own~ ;3 Thanks for reviewing Guest-sama!**

**Schlydie: Aa~ I always get so happy when people like my stories! *hugs* ((I really love the pairings too, they are taking over my life...)) And Law has quite a trip ahead of him! ;3 Thanks for reviewing dear!**

**Guest: I'm glad it looks interesting! Thank you very much for reviewing too, other Guest-sama! :3**

**Riinachaan: Yea... They are super adorable together! And so far, Smoker hasn't planned very much, but who knows really ;) AAA! I'm super excited to get so nice reviews, so I have a clue on how excited you are! :3**

**shirt: OMG A SHIRT IS REVIEWING IM SO HONORED. *bows to the shirt* AND THE SHIRT THINKS MY STORY IS AWESOME! BEST WAY TO START A NEW YEAR~! ((psst thank you shirt-sama, for reviewing)) ( u v u )**

**Once again, thanks everyone who bothered to review: *hands over cookies to each and every one***

**And like every chapter, this one is also dedicated to the wonderful Amaitsumi-sama! :3**

**~Enjoy~**

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><p>It was quite awkward, sitting in the backseat of Sengoku's car. Law fidgeted awkwardly, feeling itchy and dirty, despite just taking a long, hot shower. One week of captivity had managed to make him lose his sanity after all. He wondered how it would have affected him on the long run, sitting in that cell, listening to the other prisoners singing sad songs about the holy land Mariejois or Amazon Lily, where all the beautiful models lived.<p>

Sengoku must have noticed how bothered Law was, because he suddenly started talking;

"When you were caught, the news spread over the whole world. Everyone thinks you are in prison, so that's another reason to keep your profile low."

Law snorted at this piece of information. What a disgrace. Now the entire world thought of him as a failure, as an idiot, as a loser. He wondered what Kidd must have thought, seeing the headlines in some newspaper. Maybe the red-haired baboon hadn't cared, trusting that it all was a part of Law's plans. Or maybe, he had completely panicked and was now threatening every police in the whole New World. Who knew what that uneducated, precious fool was up to anyway?

"You aren't the talkative type, I see", Sengoku persisted to talk. Law didn't know whether it was better to keep the conversation going, or just sit there in complete silence, watching Punk Hazard's snowy landscapes swish by. "May I ask you how you learnt hacking so well? Did someone teach you?"

"Yea, I had someone. He helped me. That's why he taught me. It's a long story", Law really was not in the mood to think of his past. He had never told anyone, he had merely given Kidd some hints, but never really shared the whole story with him.

"I see", Sengoku seemed to be out of topics, and Law was thankful for that. Unfortunately, it seemed like he came up with another topic to discuss. "So, had you ever been to Punk Hazard before this incident?"

"No. I lived here for six months before threatening Smoker-ya, however. If that counts", Law was hoping that they would arrive soon. The whole conversation was awkward. Of course, it had to be kept alive, in sake for politeness. Despite being a criminal, Law had always respected basic courtesy to a certain degree.

"You spent those whole six months preparing for that moment?" Sengoku seemed surprised, as if he had expected less from Law, which only made Law feel like letting out another snort. _Stupid head of the government thinks he's superior to me._

"Yeah, I collected valuable information. It took me a good two months to find him, and another month to be completely sure it was him and not someone who reminded of him", Law explained. "Then I spent three months following him around, finding out who his coworkers were, following them around. That just proved to be waste of time, though."

"Where did you even learn to know about the CID, in first place?" Sengoku inquired. Law wasn't sure whether they were having an innocent conversation anymore. It seemed as if it had turned into an interrogation of some sort.

"I had been suspecting that Sir Crocodile worked together with the government for quite a while. It was merely my instincts telling me thusly. He is also one of the few wealthy men who do not speak badly about the governmental arrangements. In fact, whilst watching every interview that had been undergone with him, I recognized that he promoted the government, speaking warmly about it. Of course it made suspicion arise within me. But when his business suddenly started to bloom and the government, at the very same moment, got a bigger yearly budget, I was sure of the connection. You hid it well Sengoku, but everyone must have noticed it. You were getting help from a rat", Law spoke calmly, watching how Sengoku tensed in the front seat, watching the driver with nervous eyes. Law thought it was weird that Sengoku sat in the front seat. Usually the driver would sit there alone.

"Why did you even watch all of Sir Crocodile's interviews to begin with?" Sengoku was obviously panicking, despite hiding it behind a polite, calm façade. Law smirked.

"The leader of the Family has to be wealthy in order to be able to finance the costs of producing CANDY. From what I've read, it must be a very expensive drug, in order to get symptoms like that to appear. My guesses where also that the leader is a man, only due to the fact that the fashion company Criminal's daughter company 007 Suits have been selling more suits lately. 007 Suits is known for being ridiculously expensive – not anyone can afford them. There has lately been a lot of big orders, and when I say big, I mean in the sense of mafia-gang-big. There have been group orders, probably to suit the higher ups in the gang. But what made me sure about the leader being male, were the orders with special customizing, especially since of the suits ordered had been ordered by a man named Bellamy."

Sengoku took a deep breath, apparently amazed by everything Law had managed to find out on his own.

"Do… Do you think this Bellamy is the leader?"

"Hardly. He is most likely a mere puppet. He made a mistake to order by his own name and has probably been killed. But that suit was special in some way. I don't know why. The designers and the tailors said there was nothing special about it, but one of them knows something. He was way too nervous when I went there to talk to them. Oh yea, I kind of stole one of your workers badges in able to get them to talk. I pretended to go by the name Coby. They bought it", Law continued to smirk, seeing how Sengoku's shoulders shuddered of tension. "And why Sir Crocodile? Well, once again the suits. Considering that there had only been ordered suits, no dresses, I recognized that when checking the expensive dress shops, I came to the conclusion that the stuck-up bastard leading the Family probably looks down on women. We could probably find him through some prostitutes, he seems like a man like that. That's why I started investigating all rich and wealthy men in the New World, whom he could possibly work together with. That's how I found Sir Crocodile."

"You work as if you've been into investigation you entire life", Sengoku relaxed in the front seat, breathing heavily as if he just had been told a horrible, grotesque ghost story. "And you have to return that badge. I didn't even know it was gone."

"Neither did Coby. It was only gone for a couple of hours. It wasn't hard, he is a normal ticket cop, his badge hanging out from his pockets all of the time. I took it and pretended it wasn't a normal badge. I came up with some secret department, spit out some bullshit, and inquired each and every designer and tailor in 007 Suits", Law leaned into his seat, satisfied with everything he had been able to find out on his own.

"I could make you go back into prison because of that. Pretending to be a police is a serious crime", Sengoku sounded a bit angry, even offended. He probably didn't like it when someone was able to fool him and his employees.

"Accepting money from a half-criminal with a casino that sells underage prostitutes, is also a crime, Sengoku-ya", the smirk on Law's full lips grew wider. He had the man right where he wanted him to be. There was no way Sengoku was going to fire him now. Too bad he hadn't found Sengoku first, and had been forced to threaten Smoker.

"You really are a criminal. Well, I should have known that you would cause some trouble. Once a criminal, always a criminal."

"And yet I've come farther in my personal investigations than the CID ever could dream of, by just 'criming' around, like the horrible criminal I am."

"Don't belittle your crimes Trafalgar."

The car suddenly stopped by a tall skyscraper. Law recognized the building as the headquarters for Safety and Security for the People of the New World, the SSPNW. A long name for a simple organization. Did the CID have their headquarters here too? Well it wasn't a bad place. The building was situated in a good, accessible place, had modern equipment and the police school was just behind the corner, available for training.

"This is it. We're at the 14th floor. The top floor is reserved for governmental meetings where we decide about Safety and Security issues", Sengoku explained, got out of the car, opened the car door for Law and pulled him out of the car. "I'm keeping an eye on you until we have the GPS locator attached to you."

"Aye, aye, sir", Law replied sarcastically.

S

Law was hungry and thirsty when they were finished with every test. There had been questions about why he wanted to join, why he had become a criminal, why he didn't have any family and why he was interested in the Family overall.

Thanks to the fact that there were no official facts about Law, and the ones there had been he had made sure to disappear from the world, Law had been free to come up with a story of his own. He told them he came from a foreign, undeveloped country, that his family had starved to death and that he had escaped over the border to the neighboring country, where a man had taught him to hack in order to get money to live.

Of course, that all had been a big fat lie.

When they had asked him about his reasons to why he wanted to join, Law had come up with some bullshit story, how he had had a friend living in the streets that had gotten addicted to CANDY and had died in the process. His real motives were his private thing.

Law had been surprised when the lie detector hadn't noticed him lying. He had thought it was hard not to be caught, but apparently if one just was calm enough, the stupid device wouldn't notice a thing.

Besides the long interrogation, with detailed inquires after inquires, they had also forced the dark-haired man to do a lot of psychological tests and physical tests. He had been forced to run laps while they had measured his heartbeat. And then he had been forced to do a certain amount of push-ups and sit-ups within a certain time limit. They tested how well he was able to handle guns, and how flexible he was. And then they run some intelligence tests. More psychological tests. A bit more interrogation. Running a few more laps. Hitting the shower to get rid of the sweat from the physical tests. And finally, have a stupid black device attached around his left ankle with a black strap.

Law slumped down on the sofa in Smoker's office, while both Sengoku and Smoker looked over the test results from Smoker's laptop. He felt the GPS locator against his ankle. If he was to try to cut it off, the CID and the rest of the SSPNW would be alarmed and immediately start searching for him. There was no use in trying to do that, especially not if Law on top of everything was supposed to live with a CID-worker.

"You prove to have a somewhat stable mental health. The results from the physical tests could be improved, not your stamina, but you muscles and your flexibility. You had outstanding results from handling a gun, you hit both objects that were still and objects that were moving with accuracy", Sengoku spoke with a cold voice. He was most likely still mad at Law for the whole stealing-Coby's-badge-thing. When Sengoku mentioned the whole gun-accuracy thing, Law felt himself missing Kidd. The redhead would probably have gotten a perfect score, he was incredibly talented with handling all kinds of weapons. Law just wanted to sleep next to him, taking a break from everything. "The lie detector couldn't detect a single lie and you scored… very well on your intelligence test."

Law smirked, while lying on the sofa like a tired, shrunken pile of papers. He knew very well how high his IQ was. And he knew that people always got a bit startled.

"Does this mean I can stay?"

"Yea, you're hired. From now on Smoker will be your boss, and you can't go around threatening people anymore. And definitely no stealing badges. You'll get your own if you behave", Law just rolled his eyes while Sengoku spoke. "Smoker will now take you to your team, so that you'll be able to meet them all. Then you'll go home with Bartolomeo. He is the guy you will be living with. Tomorrow Smoker will introduce the other teams along with the project we are currently working on. Also, Trafalgar, be sure to share the information you got your hands on. I hate to admit it, but it's utterly valuable information."

"_Bartolomeo?"_ Law thought, following Smoker out of the office. He and Smoker hadn't gotten the chance to talk yet, and Law wondered if the man was angry at him because of what had happened a week ago. _"If his name is Bartolomeo then it surely can't be too bad. It's a fancy name after all."_

Smoker led Law through a long corridor with many offices. He heard how phones ringed, how people said goodbye and went home, how someone screamed at someone, how papers were copied, how someone typed on keyboards. Everyone seemed busy in the CID. Apparently there were many different teams investigating many different things. Law got curious, wanted to ask Smoker how the different teams differed from each other, but he decided not to. Smoker was most likely still mad at him, and he would still get to know more tomorrow, so he could be patient and wait.

Finally Smoker stopped walking and walked in into one of the many offices. It was spacious, there were many desks and all of them were occupied. Law wondered where he'd work, and suspected he'd most likely get a desk of his own as soon as possible. None of the workers in the room seemed to notice neither Smoker's nor Law's presence, until Smoker demonstratively cleared his throat.

"Okay, so this is Trafalgar Law, the famous hacker. He will be working with us from now on. Please introduce yourself", Smoker turned to Law who hadn't been expecting to have to perform an introduction as well. Well, there was no turning back now, was there.

"Yea I'm Trafalgar Law, you can call me Trafalgar. Or Law. Whatever", Law said sloppily, feeling how a disapproving glare pierced through him, obviously coming from Smoker. Not that the dark-haired man really cared. All he cared about was getting started as soon as possible.

The others smiled, waved a little, until Smoker roared at them to introduce themselves as well. They stood up one by one.

"I'm Shachi, I mostly check through evidence we get and send them to the lab. You can call me Sha-chan!"

"No thanks", Law replied coldly. He was not going to call a grown man Sha-chan, not over his dead body.

"This is Hina, she is an assassin and interrogates whoever we find that needs to be inquired. Hina is also a very good double spy!" a woman with pale pink hair talked in third person, and Law wondered how she had passed the psychological tests. Then again, people perhaps thought it was cute, and that's why they used her as a double spy. Law did find her a bit terrifying as well. She seemed ruthless.

"My name is Penguin. I do both lab stuff and computer stuff. I also interrogate people and sometimes work as a double spy, but I'm not as skilled as Hina-san." He seemed to be the sanest one so far, in Law's opinion.

"I'm Rebecca. I'm a specialized assassin. My skills are mostly in close combat fighting and poisoning, but I'm also skilled with small weaponry, such as smaller guns", there was another woman with pink hair. Law wondered if it was a trend to dye your hair pink amongst women. Maybe it was, maybe not, Law was not very good with keeping track on fashion and things of that kind. But this Rebecca girl seemed nice and sane, not as creepy as Hina. She seemed more professional, as if she had been training for years.

"I'm Drake", a man with reddish hair announced. "I've been working with gaining information from databases, but I suppose you are more skilled on those kinds of things."

"Well, it's still good that there are two of us. Either of us might die, after all", saying it bluntly, Law recognized how people got a bit tense. Had someone recently died or? Well, whatever.

Finally, there was only one person left, and Law was sure that this had to be Bartolomeo. It was a green-haired man with a tattoo in his face. He was shaking with eagerness and had been staring at Law the entire time. Law wondered if the man was okay in the head. Maybe the tattoo needle had accidentally pierced through not only his skin, but his skull, damaging his brain? Law blinked when the green-haired man didn't do anything, just sat there and looked at Law with a goofy smile all over his face.

"What..? Is something wrong?" Law asked, getting really bothered by the long stares.

"Ah, yes that is Bart-"

Smoker got cut off by Bartolomeo, who suddenly flung out of his chair, ran up to Law and attacked Law with a big, tight hug.

"Aaaa! Law-senpai! It's such an honor to finally meet you! You've been hacking into our systems since forever!" the green-haired man did not let go, as he rubbed his right cheek against Law's face. "You're so handsome in real life! Such smooth skin!"

"H-Hey..! Let me go..!" protesting seemed to be completely hopeless, Bartolomeo didn't listen to Law at all.

"Um, yes, I forgot to mention that Bartolomeo here has been admiring your skills as a criminal for quite a long while. He loves people like you, who have extraordinary abilities", Smoker explained, obviously amused. That bastard thought it was entertaining seeing how Law suffered. "Not that you are his biggest idol. He is even more obsessed with Luffy, working in team Straw-hat. They are one of the teams here on the CID, you'll get to meet them tomorrow."

"Waah! Law-senpai is so cute! I'm the luckiest person alive to get to live with him!" Bartolomeo continued to cuddle the newcomer, until Smoker started to feel too sorry for the suffering dark-haired male that he told Bartolomeo to let go. "Oh sorry senpai! I didn't realize you weren't a people person!" he laughed goofily.

"Yea, well, I'm not. So leave me alone", glaring at the goofy man, Law tried to shake him off, but Bartolomeo just stood there, a few inches too close, and looked at Law while smiling happily. Law sighed and turned to Smoker. "Is he always like this? Will he ever leave me alone?"

"No, he won't leave you alone. This is how he is", Smoker didn't seem to care. "Bartolomeo works as our assassin and sniper. Okay people, get back to work. Bartolomeo, show Law around and then bring him home to your place. And keep an eye on him, he's a sneaky one."

"Yes, sir!" Bartolomeo seemed very determined, making Law question his life choices. Maybe it had been better to continue the investigation alone after all… "This way senpai! I'll show you the entire floor! And we have a hot chocolate machine as well! I'll teach you how to get hot chocolate from it for free! Oh, oh, and… Woah you have really long legs senpai!" Bartolomeo suddenly bent down to stroke Law's thighs, but there was a limit to how much harassing Law could endure throughout one day, and Bartolomeo was crossing that limit. So Law just angrily kicked him in his stomach.

"Next time it'll be your crotch", the angry tone pierced through Bartolomeo's heart, who was now holding his stomach, shuddering in pain. Law heard how some workers laughed in their offices. Then he got even angrier. It was not a laughing matter that this crazy greenhead was obsessing with him. It was annoying as hell.

"T… There won't be a next time senpai…" Bartolomeo mumbled.

"I sure hope so, or I'll also be charged for murder."

M

Small crystal-like snowflakes fluttered down from the sky. The sun had set a long time ago, hiding behind the horizon. Only dim streetlights were there to light up the streets, accompanied by the lights coming from homes and stores. The decorated trees also illuminated the dark lanes, making the snowflakes glitter in a fairy-tale like manner, as if they were fairy dust. The streets of the town were filled with people, desperately trying to get home. Some of them were coming home from school, some from work, some from a friend's place. Nevertheless, everyone seemed busy with their own merry life.

Except that Law's life wasn't very merry at the moment, having a glad, laughing Bartolomeo walking next to him, showing him the way home to his apartment.

"Oh! This is the closest convenience store", Bartolomeo stopped by a small convenience store, with orange and blue colors. Law looked up at the text illuminated above the door. _Snacks & Knacks? _What kind of knacks did that store have, Law wondered, while he looked into the somewhat empty store with a bored young man as the cashier. "If you want to buy anything right now, we could go and get it. Ah, right, you probably don't have a tooth brush. Nor anything else. Let's go buy the most essential ones!"

Law merely let out a groan, indicating that he already was suffering, before even entering the store. But Bartolomeo had already grabbed his wrist and was pulling him into _Snacks & Knacks._

The duo walked around in the store, Law desperate not to be seen. He had no idea where Kidd was for the moment, the red-haired baboon could as well have come to Punk Hazard in order to find Law. And Law really didn't want to be seen with a chicken-looking greenhead that was way too eager all of the time.

Fortunately, they found what they needed quickly. A toothbrush, a few razor blades, shampoo, a deodorant and things like that. Law had really hoped that they were done there, but Bartolomeo wanted to buy some more ingredients and a few bottles of lime juice.

"Does Law-senpai have any favorite dishes?" Bartolomeo looked at the shelves filled with different kinds of bottles, cans and packages. Cheese, meat, vegetables, root crops… The convenience store had a lot of ingredients for being such a cheap-looking place. "I could cook you whatever you like for dinner."

"I'm not really hungry. Let's just go."

"No! You must eat more, Law-senpai! You need to build more muscle! I'll make something with a lot of protein! And tomorrow morning you'll eat a boiled egg!" looking at Law with determined eyes, Bartolomeo filled the basket he had borrowed from the store with a lot of beans, meat, seeds, eggs, a few cans of tuna, a piece of halibut, cheeses of different kinds, curd cheese and other protein-rich viands. When Bartolomeo took a package of bread, Law stopped him and put the package of bread back on the shelf. "Huh?"

"No. No bread. I don't like bread", using a stern voice, Law glared at the other man. "If I ever get bread as breakfast, I'll kill you and leave the CID."

"Oh. Okay, so no bread. What do you like then? Are croissants ok? Bagels? Anything bread-like?"

"Pancakes and waffles are fine. And croissants are ok if they are chocolate-filled. But no donuts, no bagels, no panini, no focaccia."

"So nothing else besides waffles, pancakes and croissants with chocolate? D… Does this mean that senpai has a sweet tooth? Ah, so cute!" Bartolomeo squeaked and tried to hug Law again, but the latter just stepped aside and glared at the greenhead.

"No, I also think tortilla bread and naan bread are okay. But I don't really like them."

"I see. What does senpai like then?" Bartolomeo was once again standing a few inches too close. Or then Law just had a very big personal space.

"I like grilled fish and rice balls. Rice crackers are also good. And black espresso", Law tried to think of other things he liked, but none crossed his mind. He was pretty indifferent when it came to food. He had never really cared about how food tasted, except that he hated bread and salt plums. "Oh yea, I also hate salt plums. And mayonnaise. Please never put mayonnaise in anything. And preferably no ketchup."

"Woah senpai, you're super picky! Like a small child! Super cute!"

Super cute? Kidd had always complained that he was a spoilt brat and had forced him to eat all kinds of different things. He missed the fights they would have before every meal, Law refusing to eat stuffed mushrooms and Kidd insisting that they tasted wonderful, especially if they were stuffed with Crème Bonjour's garlic cream cheese and grilled bacon strips rolled around them. Or stuffed with neutral cream cheese and pesto. In the end, Law had really liked the mushrooms.

"Whatever. Are we done now?" the memories with Kidd made him angry for some reason. Maybe because he really wanted to eat those stuffed mushrooms with Kidd again, but he was stuck in _Snacks & Knacks _with a slightly mentally unstable, green-haired chicken-man. And he couldn't escape anywhere, thanks to that stupid GPS locator.

"Yea. I can grill this halibut tonight. And tomorrow for breakfast you can get tuna", Bartolomeo smiled.

Even though he was indescribably annoying, he was also indescribably kind.

I

Kidd anxiously rolled turned around in his bed.

It had been about one week since the news had spread around the world. Trafalgar Law had been caught.

What was he supposed to do? Was it all a part of some intricate plan that Law had come up with? Or had he made a mistake and been caught for real? What if he really suffered in prison?

Kidd turned around again, feeling hot and sweaty underneath the thick blanket.

Law had been gone in six months and Kidd wondered how much longer he'd have to live in this uncertainty. It was pure torture, not knowing how his Law was doing. Of course, he worried even more because he had heard the tanned man have nightmares dozens of times. Who would be there to hug him when he was at his worst, crying in his sleep, refusing to eat, refusing to sleep and refusing to talk? Who would be there to stroke his black locks, telling him to calm down? Who would be there to ignore these periods when Law wanted them to be ignored?

Not matter how much Law insisted that he was strong and that he was doing fine, he wasn't. He was just a fragile piece of glass on the inside, even if he had built a strong barrier of metal around him, making it impossible for anyone to get close to him.

Kidd turned around his third time within two minutes, kicking the blanket away, sweating like a pig. Why was it so goddamn hot in this apartment?

He was currently staying in Zou, he had moved trice during the past six months. That's how a criminal is forced to live, or they'll be caught. And Kidd was completely okay with that. But he was not okay with Law being gone somewhere, probably behind the bars, losing even more weight.

Kidd would literally do anything for Law. He would find those bastards who made him see those nightmares, who had tortured him so badly that he was unable to live his life in peace. He would find them and kill them, even if it would cost him his life, if it would get Law happier. And Kidd knew Law was the same, even though the tattooed man always told Kidd he'd leave him die if something was to happen. But Kidd knew it was a lie. Law would help him with everything and a little more, not making a big fuss about it. He'd remember that Kidd had once half-heartedly mentioned he'd love to have something, and Law would buy it for him as a Christmas present.

Speaking of Christmas, Christmas Eve would be in about one week. Kidd wondered how he'd deliver his present to Law this year, when Law was mysteriously gone. He could always try to send it to the prison Law was staying in, but he knew the prison guards and other staff members would open the present and investigate it before giving it to Law. The present was rather personal, and Kidd really didn't want some strangers to read his love letters to Law.

Eventually Kidd gave up, sat up and walked to the balcony. He stood there, looked over the park. Zou was a countryside-like unit, with a lot of forests and other natural wonders. In the park beneath Kidd there was a small pond, gurgling and bubbling in a meditating manner. It shimmered beautifully in the moonlight. Zou was the perfect place to relax, but it still was impossible for the buff redhead to relax completely. He wouldn't be able to relax completely until he saw that Law was okay.

Different scenarios started to swirl around in Kidd's head, most of them only making him worry even more.

Little did the scarlet-haired man know, that Law had been released from prison the very same day. Not that the job Law had taken on was any better. In fact, it would have probably made Kidd worry even more, if he only had known.

A small wind passed, making Kidd remember that he stood on the balcony only wearing his boxers. He shuddered gently. He had never gotten used to cold places, and Zou wasn't even a very cold place.

L

Ah, what a soft bed and a thick blanket. It was so warm and cozy it was almost illegal. He snuggled closer to the wall but pulled away quickly, when he realized how cold it was. He stretched a bit underneath the blanket, turned around, and curled himself to a ball again. He was not getting up in a few hours, even though he was almost awake. It was just way too comfortable to lie there, feeling like an emperor in a huge bed, feeling the sunrays peeking through the curtains land on his face. A morning couldn't get any better. Wait, yes it could. If he was to wake up next to Kidd it'd be even better. Or maybe not. The big man would always snore and take a lot of space, but not only that, he was also incredibly warm and liked to be close to Law the whole night, making them both hot and sweaty.

Law's stomach was still filled with warm food from the night before. Bartolomeo had literally forced him to eat until he had started to feel sick, but Law was grateful now, feeling warm instead of feeling cold, like he always did when he hadn't eaten enough.

Planning to stay underneath the warm blanket even longer, Law failed to hear the door to his room being opened. But he did notice when someone suddenly sat down on his bed and pulled away the blanket.

"Good morning senpai! Time to wake up and get to work!" Bartolomeo smiled at the tanned man who just whined and turned away, trying to kick the greenhead away from the bed. "Oh, senpai isn't a morning person either! Very cute and very good to know!"

Law groaned, getting tired of being called cute and adorable and handsome all of the time. The compliments were losing their value, being repeatedly used. "Go away Bartolomeo-ya… Please let me sleep… Just a few more hours…"

"No can do; Smoker would kill us! Hehe! Now get up I made some really nice breakfast! I made porridge, and boiled a few eggs, then I went to the local bakery and got you chocolate-filled croissants. Oh yea, we have tuna too! And if you don't feel like eating any of those things, I have fruit loops!" Bartolomeo grinned, making Law just groan even louder. He didn't want to get up yet, the bed was ridiculously comfortable, and spending the whole day sleeping was really tempting. Especially since he was a bit sore from all those physical tests the other day.

Bartolomeo persisted to wait, while Law turned around in the bed, not even trying to get up. Then Bartolomeo got tired of waiting and started to shake the tanned man, making Law lose his temper, hissing at Bartolomeo and slapping his hands away. The greenhead sighed, not knowing what to do next, so he just looked at his new roommate with exhausted eyes. That changed, however, when he noticed an odd burn mark of some sort on Law's inner thigh. It seemed to form a perfect circle.

"Senpai, what's this?" Bartolomeo tried to touch it and move Law's legs to see it better.

Law jumped at the touch and quickly proceeded to kick Bartolomeo as hard as he could in his head. Law hadn't even been able to react himself, his body had reacted on its own and now the green-haired chicken-man was lying on the floor.

"Never… Never touch me again", Law breathed, feeling his heartbeat raise. He hid the mark with the blanket and swallowed nervously. He knew he should have tried to contact a doctor and remove that stupid burn mark a long time ago. But the doctor would also have asked questions. He didn't want to answer any questions, particularly not if they revolved around that burn mark.

"Hey, senpai, are you alright?" Bartolomeo had sat up, rubbing his swollen forehead carefully. His nose had also been damaged a little. But he didn't care, he only noticed that there was something wrong with his senpai.

"Go away."

"But, that burn mar-"

"I said go away didn't I!?" his eyes glistened dangerously as Law let out an angry shout. He was usually not a person who lost his temper, but he was getting incredibly tired of Bartolomeo's intrusive behavior. He'd ask if it would be possible for him to live with someone else. Bartolomeo asked too many questions.

"Okay senpai. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

Law didn't bother to reply, he just sat on the bed, staring into the wall. The door was closed carefully, in a silent manner, which only bothered Law even more, for some reason.

"_Great going Law, now they all will start to suspect things. Bartolomeo-ya will surely tell everyone and they'll fire me right away and I'll be sent back to prison", _Law thought, biting on his right thumb. It was a bad habit of his, he usually bit on his thumbs when he was nervous. Eventually both of his thumbs would be patched and he'd bite on the patches until they'd be ruined too.

Hearing how Bartolomeo was fixing stuff in the kitchen, Law started to feel a bit sorry for the greenhead who obviously tried his best to befriend Law and to make Law feel like adapting to the new situation was possible. Unfortunately, however, he did it in all the wrong ways, making Law feel cornered. He didn't know that Law was like that, that questions bothered him a lot and that he definitely was not okay with someone invading his personal space. And Law's personal space was very large, he preferred to be at least two meters away from most people.

After sitting deep in his thoughts for a while, Law sighed and got up. He needed to shower. So he stretched his neck carefully and then quietly walked to the bathroom. Bartolomeo was in the kitchen, placing the breakfast he had prepared in plastic boxes, obviously intending to put them away and save them for later. Once again Law felt sorry for him, so he just quickly walked into the bathroom, trying not to bother too much.

He let the warm water run over his body, cleaning every inch of him. When rubbing soap on his shoulders, Law felt the bones sticking out, and grimaced. He really had to build more muscles. It would be useful if he would be forced to fight someone. Right now the enemy probably could sit down on him and he'd be crushed. Law shuddered at the thought, but then smirked a little for himself. It was a really stupid thought.

When he was done showering and drying himself, Law found himself a bit lost. What was he supposed to dress himself with? Currently he was only wearing a pair of boxers but he had no proper clothes, only a few old hoodies and worn jeans, but they were surely not CID-material. So, no matter how awkward it was, Law was forced to pop his head out of the bathroom and ask Bartolomeo:

"Bartolomeo-ya, what can I wear for work today?"

The greenhead seemed super happy that Law was talking with him once again. He rushed to Law by the bathroom door and smiled happily. "What would you like to wear? I have a few sweaters, black ones. And then some shirts. And jeans and a bit fancier pants. Just tell me and I'll bring it to you! Oh, but they'll probably be a little big on you, since I'm a lot wider than you are…"

"It's fine. If you'd bring me a black sweater and some jeans, I'd be happy."

"Alright, I'll be right back!"

Law waited patiently for Bartolomeo to return and while the other male was gone he took a look at the reddish burn mark on his inner thigh. It really was discernable. Kidd had also seen it, and tried to ask about it. Law had half-heartedly given him a half-true explanation. He wondered if anyone at the CID would ask about it too, when they'd go to the gym together, changing clothes in the locker rooms. Would it cause suspicion? He didn't know. People would surely ask, because one could tell it was a fairly old mark. Something he had gotten as a child.

Soon Bartolomeo returned with the clothes and a belt too, remarking that Law most likely would need it, or the pants would just fall down. Then the greenhead proceeded to suggest that the two of them could go and buy Law some clothes after work today. Law had lost all of his money, it all had been stolen money after all, but Bartolomeo offered to pay for the clothes, saying that it was the least he could do for being so rude earlier.

"Okay so now it's settled, we're going to buy some clothes for senpai after work! Do you have any brand you prefer?" Bartolomeo asked, walking back into the kitchen to continue putting away the breakfast he had prepared.

"Nah, as long as the clothes are comfortable. It's just hard to find clothes in my size. I'm pretty tall I need pretty small sizes, so most of my clothes always end up being too short", Law remarked from the bathroom, pulling the pants on. They really were loose; Law ended up looking like some teenage star with loose, hanging pants and a somewhat loose sweater. Well, there was nothing they could do about that right now. He would just have to live through the day looking like an awkward teenage star with dark hand tattoos and finger tattoos.

"They are a bit big on you, but as long as they don't fall off, it should be ok", Bartolomeo said, when the tanned man entered the kitchen. "Are you hungry? Your plate is on the table, there's a boiled egg, a small fruit salad, a croissant and yoghurt and a little bit of tuna."

"Oh god, I'm still completely stuffed from yesterday…" Law waddled to the dining table and sat down on one of the chairs, looking at his meal with hopeless eyes. There was no way he'd be able to eat all of that. No fucking way.

"But breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Besides, eating a healthy, well-balanced breakfast makes you last much longer throughout the day!" the greenhead smiled and sat down in front of Law and started to eat. That was when Law realized that Bartolomeo had waited for him to be ready, so that they could eat together. Now Law felt even more like a burden. "Now eat up senpai! Then we have to go!"

Law merely sighed, gave in and slowly started to eat his food. His stomach gurgled, telling him that he already was stuffed and that there was no need for any more food. But Bartolomeo was persistent and had determined that Law would finish his breakfast. Then again, Law had noticed himself how bony he really was, when showering a few minutes earlier. So maybe it really was for the best that he got used to eat a bit more. He would be working hard from now on after all.

While eating, Bartolomeo babbled on about the weather forecast and about pop stars and singers and actors. He told Law that the famous Queen of Pop, Boa Hancock, was currently on a world tour, performing on gig after gig. Law wondered if the leader of the Family could have any bonds to that woman, but then remembered that he already had come to the conclusion that the leader most likely looked down on women and girls. Well, if the leader really was the person who Law suspected it was, then that image would fit perfectly. But Law would not make any assumptions that his suspicions were correct until he had solid evidence. And if the leader would be revealed to be someone else, Law would be really pissed off.

"Are you done eating already senpai?" Bartolomeo asked abruptly, when noticing that Law had stopped eating and was leaning backwards with his chair. When Law nodded as a reply, Bartolomeo blinked, as if he was confused of something. Then he just chuckled. "So, you really still are stuffed from yesterday?" He laughed, as if it was something hilarious.

"We ate quite a lot", Law mumbled, looking down at his not-even-close-to-empty plate and wondered if there really was something wrong with his lifestyle. Well, at least Bartolomeo didn't seem offended that Law left some food on his plate. In fact, he seemed happy that Law had eaten anything at all.

"Maybe you're just nervous", the greenhead hummed.

"Nervous?"

"Yeah, you're meeting the rest of the teams today!"

Oh yea, that was true. He really was going to meet the rest of the CID. He wondered how they were like, especially who this Luffy-guy was, who Bartolomeo obviously admired. Well he'd get to know that soon enough.

"Yeah, that's true." Law hadn't been nervous before, but now he grew to be a bit eager.

"If you're finished eating, I'll just put the dishes in the dishwasher and we can go", Bartolomeo stood up and started collecting the dirty dishes, throwing away the food Law had left on his plate.

Only three minutes later, Law and Bartolomeo were walking to the CID, Law wondering what the other teams would think of him.

E

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><p>~Thanks for Reading~<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello wonderful people of the internet! :)**

**Woah, it's not midnight and I'm uploading something! Yay! **

**I must say I'm surprised that people enjoy this fic - I was quite sure people would think this is weird, haha :D Well, I'm super glad that you guys read this~! ( u v u )**

**Onto the reviews:**

**AntisocialPeanut: Holy crap you are so kind! And yeah, I've always thought that if Law wouldn't have ended up being a surgeon he would totally have become a hacker ;) And Barto is the best! Thank you so SO much for reviewing dear! :)**

**LawFan: I'm glad I managed to grab your curiosity! :D And here's a bit more for you! Thanks for taking your time to review! **

**Guest: Ah! Thanks for thinking that the chapter was cute~! And you'll get to know about Cora-san sooner or later... ;) Thanks for reviewing dear! ( o v o )**

**loogoo: I'm glad it's unique and I'm super happy you like it! Thanks for being diligent enough to leave a review! :3**

**Guest: Oh Barto will be around because love him myself! (I already have several scenes planned with that cute little bastard). Thanks for the review Guest-sama! :3**

**Schlydie: Worried Kidd is the cutest~ And thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me! :)**

**Riinachan: Yup. Law might stalk all of us. We should be aware. :D And yeah, Barto is a little clumsy... I'm super glad I could make your heart feel warm and fluffy! Worried Kidd really is the best kind of Kidd, haha ;) Thanks for reviewing - it made me happy! :3**

**shirt: THE SHIRT IS BACK. HELLO SHIRT. Omg are you a sexy shirt? Now I'm interested ;) And that burn mark has a story, hehe! Thanks for reviewing dearest shirt-sama!**

**haidogirl1406: Omg thanks so much! And I don't want to spoil anyone but Kidd and Law are most likely, very likely, pretty much, yes, going to meet again ;D Thanks for the review, haidogirl-san! :)**

**yoo: He will see them in the same room in this chapter... ;3 And Law is super mysterious, so it'll take a while before he'll tell us anything. Thanks for reviewing! :)**

**chisa suzuki: I'm glad you like the fic! And yeah, Kidd and Law are the cutest ever~ Barto is the best character ever! And I'm sure Law has had some love marks on his thighs at some point, but they have healed away because he hasn't seen Kidd in so long ;) (Sorry for taking a while to update!) Thanks for reviewing, it's super nice of you!**

**My Soul is Spartan: I'm glad it's fun to read! And thank you so much for liking it! :) Also, thanks for the kind review :3**

**GlOmP3R: Sorry it took a while to update dear! But here it is! And I'm super glad you like it and thank you sooo much for reviewing~ :)**

**Once again, thanks everyone who read/followed/favorited but mostly reviewed! *hands over cupcakes and fluffy balls to cuddle to each and every of you* **

**Once again, this is dedicated to the sweetest and most diligent Amaitsumi! :)**

**~Enjoy~**

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><p>The clock was a few minutes past eight and Ace knew he was late.<p>

He could merely blame himself for staying up so late last night, playing video games. But then again, he really couldn't blame himself either; he had been so close to obtaining that magical emerald and beating the entire game that it had been completely impossible to stop playing. Thinking of it, Ace came to the conclusion that everything in fact was that stupid game's fault.

He was late nevertheless and he knew telling his boss that he was late because of a video game would just enrage the man. Ace stumbled out of his bedroom, one foot in his pants and the other one still unclothed. Almost falling to the floor, Ace somehow managed to dial Marco.

"Ace, where are you? Trafalgar Law will stop by our department in like ten minutes to tell us about his conclusions and evidence, yoi", the voice sounded irritated. Someone was speaking in the background, and someone else was typing on a laptop. If one listened closely, one could also be able to discern the noise of a phone ringing in the distance.

"I know, I know… I stayed up late last night, can you cover for me? Tell the old man that my bike broke down and that I'm fixing it as fast as possible", lying to Marco would be impossible, Ace knew that. They were best friends and the blonde, tanned man had always been able to tell whenever Ace was trying to tell a lie. It was as if Marco was a living lie detector.

"Idiot", sighing on the other end of the line, Ace could literally hear how his best friend rubbed his temple with a frustrated hand. "Okay, fine. But you owe me. You're paying for lunch today, yoi."

"What?! No way!" Ace exclaimed, trying his best to get dressed while talking on the phone. "I told you yesterday – I'm broke! I spent all of my savings on that new Nintendo and on that holographic PlayStation! You should totally come over by the way. The holograms look so awesome when playing. It's like you are there in real life and-"

"What are you? Ten? And I'll make sure to drop by on Friday, yoi", Marco replied, spinning on the chair by his desk. He looked down at the calendar next to his laptop – he had never liked writing down his appointments and alike on an electronic calendar. "Yeah, I'm free on Friday."

"Aww, Friday doesn't suit me… I promised Luffy we'd go out partying. A friend of his has this awesome party you know", Ace babbled on, jogged to the kitchen and grabbed a loaf of white bread. While holding the phone to his ear, he somehow managed to butter his anemically white loaf of bread. "But Saturday?"

"Sure", Marco replied, feeling a rejected sentiment in his stomach. He knew Ace and Luffy were pretty much the closest brothers on planet Earth – what had those two lunatics not done together? Once they had gone night surfing in November, freezing themselves very badly and ended up lying in the hospital for a few days. But it always hurt Marco how Ace always chose his little brother over him. Especially since Marco always chose Ace over everything else. "Hey, what about that lunch today, yoi?"

"What are you saying? I can't hear you~!" Ace replied playfully, obviously not wanting to pay for the lunch. "Oh! Oh no! I dropped my phone! Gotta hang up~!" It was obvious that he hadn't dropped his phone at all and just pretended that the whole scene had happened, in order to avoid the whole who-is-paying-for-lunch topic. Brat.

Marco just stared at his phone in defeat. He smiled gently.

"_Idiot, I would have paid for lunch as long as you would have been there with me to share it", _he thought, gently leaned backwards with his chair and chuckled. He had a feeling that today was going to be a good day nevertheless.

L

Being forced to endure Bartolomeo's inconsistent blabbering the entire way to the CID, Law was indescribably relieved when they arrived by the tall skyscraper. Bartolomeo persevered to talk, however, making a sweltering headache shape in Law's forehead. Even if the green-haired man was kind and meant well, Law still wanted to make him shut up. The problem lay mainly in the fact that Bartolomeo refused to listen to Law's protests, persisting to talk about whatever crossed his mind. Thus, Law had no choice but just to listen to his endless and mindless blabbering. It seemed that Kidd and Bartolomeo shared that trait – they both were blabbative.

They had reached the CID nevertheless and Law mentally made sure to thank every god that crossed his mind that they were there. Just when they were about to enter the building, a man dashed pass them, shouting 'sorry' while passing them. The young man's sprint had been all in vain, for he was still forced to wait for the elevator to reach the ground floor. Law heard how the man cursed for himself. Bartolomeo walked up to the black-haired man mumbling for himself and Law followed the greenhead.

"Hiya Ace-senpai!" Bartolomeo smiled happily, and Law was so thankful for the fact that the greenhead now would direct his attention to the other man in their company. "Late again huh?"

"Oh, Barto! And yup, haha, I was up late last night", the man that Bartolomeo had called 'Ace-senpai' chuckled. Then he noticed Law, who just stood there looking at the closed elevator with bored eyes. "Are you Trafalgar Law?"

"Yeah", Law's reply came bluntly, his golden eyes not leaving the elevator door. Law presumed that this man worked on one of the other teams. It seemed as if the man waited for Law to ask for his name, but that never occurred. Instead Law persisted to stare at the elevator door with tired and bored eyes.

"Don't bother about him Ace-senpai, he's in a really foul mood today. I woke him up and apparently he isn't a morning person so it is fully understandable", Bartolomeo explained cheerfully. The dense cheerfulness only made Law feel like brutally abusing the way too happy greenhead. Of course, Law was able to hold himself from doing something that primitive and animalistic, but it would have felt immensely satisfying to do so. "Oh no! He looks mad again!" Bartolomeo sounded happy.

"What did I say yesterday? Next time it will be your fucking crotch", Law muttered quietly.

The man with his rather cute freckles burst out in laughter, remarking that Law looked like a five-year-old brat. This only irritated the tanned man even more, Law even considered to actually hurting them badly. Fortunately, the elevator arrived before he was able to resort to violence and he stepped into the small space and tried to stand as far as possible from the eager green-haired chicken-looking man. Bartolomeo persisted to talk with Ace who now had calmed down. Apparently they both were interested in games, and the freckled one had just bought a new holographic PlayStation. A detailed and intricate discussion ensued, both excited about the amazing graphic. Law didn't want to admit it, but he did feel a little impressed as well. Of course, holograms had gotten very common and were used in hospitals to avoid bacteria to spread for instance, but that even tools made for entertainment had developed such features was admirable. Not only were the games holographic, but from what Law was able to understand of the passionate conversation, the graphic was very beautiful too. Technology really was amazing.

Finally the elevator stopped and Law stepped out as fast as possible, followed by the two men who still eagerly discussed Nintendos and alike. Law stopped when he realized he wasn't sure of where to go. He had been there yesterday but the office was big and he wasn't quite sure whether he even was on the right floor. The building had fifteen floors, and each floor consisted of two floors. Therefore, the building actually had thirty floors, but for some reason they counted fifteen. That meant that the department Law worked in had two floors, and of course the CID had more space than that. He knew his team worked on the the 14th floor, but the 14th floor consisted of two floors, thus he couldn't be completely sure. He turned around to see whether Bartolomeo or Ace seemed confused, but instead they calmly walked forwards in a used manner.

"Yeah, this isn't our floor", abruptly answering Law's unsaid question, Bartolomeo scratched his neck. It was as if he had been able to sense Law's confusion. "But many of the other teams work here so…"

"Yeah, you'll be stopping by at our office too", Ace grinned. "But I was actually in a hurry, so I'll run over to my desk now or else I'll have the old man mad at me the rest of the week. See ya later!" With that the handsome man dashed away, obviously terrified of the possible consequences of being so late. He had most likely forgotten that he had been late whilst discussing his new PlayStation.

"What team are we visiting first?" Law inquired. He hated being this clueless. Usually he knew everything and was intellectually superior compared to others, but in this situation he was outright feckless. It was fairly irritating.

"The CP9 are the closest, so let's stop by at them. They are super cold and professional", Bartolomeo explained, grinning happily, leading the way. He walked way too close to Law and it seemed like he was restraining himself from stroking Law's thighs again. "They are all specialized assassins. Mostly they take care of CANDY investigations on the other side of the Red Line, sometimes in areas in the Grand Line, sometimes in the parts west of the Grand Line. Basically, they clean up after us, make sure we haven't missed anything and stop transports from the New Word to the other side of the Red Line. In other words, they play a very central role. Whenever we need help with our investigations, they are the ones to help us. Personally, I don't like them very much."

Law merely nodded. This was very useful information. Actually it explained a lot. This was most likely the reason behind the low CANDY usage in the other parts of the world. They had been higher a few years ago, but apparently the help from a professional department like the CID was much more effective than only having policemen watching over the border. Not only did they stop eventual transportations, if each and every of them were specialized assassins they most likely also _took care _of nuisance. This kind of power could easily be misused, and Law wondered whether the CP9 was capable of using their authority correctly.

Bartolomeo turned left and walked into a big, spacious office. Law was surprised by the cleanliness and how everything was organized with a precise accuracy. The office was the direct opposite to the office Law worked at, which had been filled with messy reports and empty mugs. The room had eight desks. One of the workers were obviously still a trainee, he wasn't as calm as the others. Immediately when stepping into the wide room, Law's presence had been noticed. The workers had stopped working and directed their attention to the tenderfoot. A man cleared his throat, walked past Law into the room and stood proudly in front of the assassins.

"Yes good morning", half of his face was covered in an odd leather mask, his hair was an odd color of lavender and the top of his nose was oddly reddish. All in all, the man seemed very weird. "I'm Spandam, the chief of this department. I presume you're Trafalgar Law?"

"Yes, that's me", Law shrugged lazily, feeling a bit misplaced in the neat room. Everyone else sat or stood with a good posture, looked professional in their tight, black clothes while Law stood there lazily with baggy clothes and messy hair.

"He's super handsome right!?" Bartolomeo exclaimed and hugged Law happily. Law simply proceeded to push the other one away with a rather aggressive gesture. "Don't mind him, he's super grumpy all of the time, but it's also super awesome."

Well, luckily Law wasn't the only one who completely looked like a fool in that room. Bartolomeo acted like an idiot after all, flailing and laughing as if he was a small child. Law was never going to admit it out loud, but it was rather sweet how the man was capable of getting so excited and happy over the smallest things possible.

"Bartolomeo, please, try to act like a real CID member", the man named Spandam sighed, obviously not happy with Bartolomeo's childish behavior. The superior tone the lavender-haired man used, however, annoyed Law too. He could tell why Bartolomeo didn't like this team. They all had an objectionable sentiment of superiority lingering around them. "And nice to meet you Trafalgar. I'm sorry to hear that you ended up working for Smoker's team. I'm sure you would have fitted our team much better. We have a bit more – hm – stimulating program here. I guess Smoker's primitive and animalistic way of working might be a little too elementary for you."

"No, I think it is fine. I think your program would have been just as boring. I mean, I've hacked into your team's systems as well, so I suppose your programmers are just as bad as the ones working for Smoker", Law replied coldly. He hated superior bastards like him. Especially since the man just had belittled his own coworker. That implied that Spandam actually thought it was fully okay to speak of other people as if they were inferior to him.

Law heard how Bartolomeo snickered happily behind him. This must have been immensely satisfying for him to see, for the expression adorning the pale man's face was priceless.

"Well, I'm happy to hear you're feeling comfortable working here", each and every word had been uttered between gritted teeth. Law really had managed to anger him badly. Not that it was Law's business. It wasn't his fault that the man was dumb enough to get provoked that easily.

After this rather cold and unpleasant exchange of sentences, the workers proceeded to introduce themselves. Law was sure he wouldn't remember a single name afterwards.

There was Lucci, with a white pigeon resting on his shoulder, who seemed completely ruthless. Law wouldn't have been surprised if his amygdala had been damaged, resulting in psychopathy. The man seemed ready to kill anything, even his own children. It wasn't that he was brutal or looked as if he longed for acting violently, instead he looked at Law as if he wasn't a person. He regarded people something else but people – human beings were objects for him.

There was Kaku, who had the weirdest nose Law ever had witnessed. It was long, which was weird enough, but apparently this hadn't been weird enough, because it had also somehow gotten the shape of a square. Kaku smiled, but the smile was incredibly superficial. It was obvious that the smile only was used whenever it had to be. The same kind of aura lingered around him, but it wasn't as cold and lethiferous as the aura that had hovered around Lucci. Somehow he still seemed more intelligent. It was perhaps because he wasn't as murderous.

There was Jabra, who looked more like he belonged to the yakuza than in a governmental movement like the CID. He seemed crazy in another way – more in the violent kind of way, indicating that he was much more wild and much less collected and intellectual. Somehow he reminded Law of a dumb, not-very-noble-looking wolf.

There was Blueno, who seemed calm and even a bit blockish. His languorousness was probably an image created because of his enormous body that looked outright unwieldy and clumsy. Otherwise the man seemed rather okay. Of course, he was also a bit on the ruthless side, but somehow he seemed a bit gentler. Law suspected that he had a family of his own or something like that, keeping him from completely losing grasp of how to regard human lives.

There was Kumadori, who looked like a joke. With his pale pink hair and the ridiculous face painting, the man looked more like he belonged to a Japanese play than he belonged to a serious team in the CID. His personality seemed as enigmatic and ridiculous, explaining the farfetched choice of style. Law couldn't help but to wonder whether the long, pale pink hair would be in the way when training, but presumed that the eccentric man put it into a ponytail when working out. Or maybe he braided it like a small girl? Nevertheless, Law wondered how a man like him ever was supposed to fit into a group of severe people like these. Maybe he could be as cutthroat as the others when he wanted to?

There was Fukuro, who was even more intricate than Kumadori. With an abnormally wide face, the green-haired man literally looked like a ball. He had odd stitches around his mouth. Of course, Law couldn't help but to wonder how they had gotten there. Had it been a fight? His voice was also unnaturally high-pitched for a man his size. Not only that, he also had a curios habit of adding chapapa after his sentences, making Law feel like strangling him. For Law, the man was completely unreadable and incomprehensible.

There was Kalifa, a beautiful lady, who seemed just as ruthless as Lucci and Kaku. With modern glasses, the woman looked utterly intelligent. Not only that, she also has sharp eyes and her posture was flawless. She looked like an eagle observing everything with incredibly careful eyes. Beneath the texture of her black clothes there obviously was an incredibly well-trained body, much more well-trained than Law's body at least. Despite her gracefulness and beauty, a cold sensation of murder lay over her, making it obvious that she had killed before and wouldn't hesitate to kill again.

Finally, there was the trainee Nero, who despite an image that obviously had been well thought through, looked nervous and misplaced in comparison to the others. Obviously not used to a tense atmosphere, the adolescent seemed to be under huge pressure when introducing himself. It was crystal clear that the pitiful youth never had killed anyone – yet. Because it was just as obvious that he was undergoing a lot of psychological and physical training to learn killing someone without any hesitation.

After this long introduction, Law proceeded to tell them about his own information. He explained it in the same way he had explained it to Sengoku. Kalifa wrote everything he said down, the rest merely listened. Then Bartolomeo just pulled Law away, saying that they were busy and had to go to the next team now. The greenhead had most likely gotten enough of their superior attitude.

Next up were the so-called Straw hats, a team that had gotten its name after their leader's odd habit to frequently use a straw hat. The leader was the person who Bartolomeo obsessed over even more, and Law had to admit that he was rather keen on learning to know why the odd man was so fond of that person

"I bet you realized why I don't like them that much", Bartolomeo muttered while showing Law the way. He was talking about the CP9.

"Yeah. I didn't like them either", Law replied, surprised over how Bartolomeo suddenly could be so serious. In fact, this was the first time Law saw him be anything else but goofy. Of course, this kind of alternation only awakened curiosity within the lithe, tanned man. Why was Bartolomeo so much against them? Was it something personal or was it just bad chemistry?

Instead of replying, the tall man turned right, entering another office. This space was completely contradictive to what they just had seen. Empty fast food boxes lay around, coffee mugs were placed at the most unexpected places and there was paper literally everywhere. Law wondered how they even were able to work in that kind of mess, he would have gone mad at least. The place even smelled odd. But the workers didn't seem bothered at all, they worked on as if it was completely normal. Some of the workers watched videos together and laughed. The place was more like a kindergarten than an office.

No one noticed their presence until Law awkwardly coughed, letting the faked cough be heard throughout the room.

"Oh you must be Trafal-guy!" one of them exclaimed happily. It was a fairly short adolescent and Law wondered if the young man even was of legal age. The youth had dark hair and a scar had been engraved beneath his left eye. Law could tell that the scar was fairly old, the grinning youth calling him 'Trafal-guy' had most likely gotten it as a child. "I'm Luffy, and I'm the one bossing around here, haha!" Laughing merrily, the youth jumped over to his desk. "Look, I have a special desk, it's big and fancy and looks much better than everyone else's desks!"

A guy with long nose burst out laughing, remarking that Luffy was being an idiot. Law, in other hand was completely lost with the whole situation, not sure of what to do or think. This kind of confusion spawned an irritation, and soon Law found himself annoyed on the team. Bartolomeo in other hand, stood there shaking of happiness, looking from Law to Luffy and from Luffy to Law. He was most likely in heaven right now. He literally let out a small squeak when Luffy eyed him and hid his face in his palms. Crouching down, Bartolomeo kept on hiding his face while hiding beneath a desk squealing for himself of how awesome his life was. Law was sure that he wouldn't be able to get the other male out of the room very easily.

"Yeah, I'm Trafalgar Law, not Trafal-guy. I hate nicknames so please don't call me Trafal-guy", Law said, his voice filled with determination. The matter about nicknames made him remember how Kidd persistently would repeatedly call him Lawsy, only to annoy him.

"Right, I'll make sure to remember", Luffy laughed picking his nose. "Yeah, but I'm the boss here and this is my team. We are investigating… Uh… What was it again..?" Closing his eyes, it seemed as if the oddball was trying to concentrate. "Nami what are we investigating again?"

A woman with orange hair sighed loudly.

"SMILE", she replied, her voice sounded tired. Law felt great empathy for her – if her boss really was this hopeless it was completely understandable why she sighed in such defeat. "We're investigating SMILE. It's a new drug that has been developed. It is very similar to CANDY, but it has small disparities. For instance is it much more effective and much deadlier. Not only that, it also messes up one's endocrine system. We have had cases of men ending up looking more feminine and women more masculine. Not only do testosterone and estrogen get messed up, other hormones like growth hormone and leptin have been completely off balance. You can ask our science nerd for further information. But yeah, that's practically what we're into right now. We haven't gotten it confirmed yet, but we suspect that the group behind SMILE also is the one behind CANDY."

At least this woman seemed smart. Or she was smart. That much Law was able to tell. And it was probably due to this very same intelligence she was so fed up with Luffy's idiotic behavior.

"Oh yea, I'm Nami. I work with maps, finding out where the teams are located, knowing how to break into buildings and stuff like that. Like a weird mashup of navigation and architecture", she continued talking sloppily. "I'm also the tactician behind our moves and plan how we're supposed investigate." Oh, that made much more sense. They had probably hired Luffy as a boss because he was good at talking, seemed to be very convincing and kind and probably was respected a lot. Luffy was a very good leader and people listened to him, but he got the ideas and orders from the brain behind it all, namely Nami. "Zoro, you go next."

"Right", a man with green hair looked as if he just had woken up and stretched his limbs gently. "Name is Zoro. I'm basically an assassin and a double agent. I'm pretty okay with weapons and such but I'm absolutely best at handling knives and stuff like that. So yeah, knife man, that's me."

Law liked him. He was straight-forward, easygoing and seemed to be not-too-complicated. Also, he was serious and calm. Basically, he reminded Law a lot of himself, but still not too much.

"Okay, I'll go next then", the man with his long nose continued, despite his shaky voice. He seemed rather anxious. "I'm Usopp. I'm a sniper and I am able to read expressions. I also have anxiety disorder and can't be sent out to be an agent or assassin very often."

"Aww, c'mon Usopp! Don't belittle yourself!" Luffy laughed happily and patted his long-nosed friend on his back. "Usopp is better than a lie detector to detect lies! He is able to read anyone's expression! Read me Usopp, read me!"

"Luffy, don't be stupid, you're probably annoying Trafal-guy…" Usopp seemed anxious, his eyes looking down at his feet in a miserable manner. It was obvious that this social happening was making him feel uncomfortable. Law liked him too. He always felt a special compassion for people with anxiety disorder.

"Stop goofing around Luffy", a blonde man gave Luffy a nasty look. He was probably able to sense that the goofy behavior annoyed Law. "Oh yeah, I'm Sanji by the way. I'm an assassin and an agent as well. I also do poisoning and mix drugs and stuff. And finally I am able to tell what a person has injected too. Basically – I'm a drug master."

Law nodded approvingly. That was handy. If Sanji really was as skilled as he said, he probably would be able to discern when a person had taken SMILE or CANDY or something else. That in turn could help Nami come up with the perfect plan. Law didn't want to admit it, but they all had skills that fit together well. They complemented each other's lacks, and that was the most important key in a team. Of course team work played a big part, but from what Law could tell, they all seemed close. That was most likely thanks to the fact that Luffy was a skilled leader.

"I'm Tony Tony Chopper!" the voice was tiny, and Law was surprised when he realized that the boy talking was a teenager. What was he? 15 years old? Anyway, way too young for working in the CID. "I open the bodies we find and try to develop medicines that could save patients who are dying because of the drugs. I'm also rather okay at hacking into systems, but it's really not my best ability. I'm still too young to actually do fighting or cool stuff like that, but I'm training hard to one day become a skilled assassin!"

Honestly, Law had no idea of what to say. Impressive, he had to admit. A fifteen-year-old brat who was able to open dead bodies and develop new medicines is not something you meet every day.

"My name is Nico Robin", there was another woman. She was tan, had black hair and was overall a very attractive woman. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that she was proud of herself. Self-confidence made women look much more attractive and beautiful, and this woman knew she was beautiful. "I'm also an assassin, but my best skills revolve around dissolving bombs and creating bombs. I also am good at hacking. I'm sure you could teach me a thing or two, however."

"Oh yea, and this lady is married to me!" an older man exclaimed, wrapping his hand around her shoulder. "I'm Franky and I make weapons. Big or small, anything can be done with enough effort. I also am experimenting with building newer and better robots and robotic body parts."

Finally there was only one person left. It was an even more elderly man, with an odd afro.

"Pleased to meet you. My name is Brook. I'm getting a bit too old for fighting but generally I interview people. Usopp and I are able to squeeze out answers from any person. Of course, I also help Robin with hacking and then I generally write reports and go through evidence. I used to be an assassin. Mostly I just tell good jokes", the man laughed in a weird manner.

After the weird laughter, Law once again presented his information in his usual sloppy manner, Nami writing everything down while a dense-looking Luffy nodded seriously. Law was completely sure that the youth hadn't understood a single word but that was fine. He knew Nami had understood and that was more than enough.

Law excused himself and was forced to pull away the flailing Bartolomeo who was going crazy over Luffy and everyone else. It proved to be harder than he had thought, so he had to use a lot of force to get the bigger man to move at all.

So that was the Straw hats.

Now there only was the Whitebeard team left. When Bartolomeo finally had calmed down, meaning that he had stopped squeaking and shaking, Law asked what the special thing about Luffy himself was.

"Luffy-senpai has a special ability to copy any move he sees. This makes it possible for him to basically manage any kind of fighting style. Of course, he has stocked up on these fighting styles and is able to apply his skills whenever needed. In addition to his inhuman way of fighting, he also has gotten a governmental drug injected into him. He was a test subject for the drug Devil Fruit as a child. The project has now been banned and is strictly illegal; most children died. Luffy survived however, providing him godlike strengths. I'm not joking when I tell you that I've seen the guy lift a car to help a cat", Bartolomeo sounded like a fangirl. He spoke fast, each word dripping with warm admiration while his arms dramatically flailed with every word he spoke. One could almost discern twinkling stars in the man's eyes because of his great eager. "He might not be very smart, but he is without doubt the best assassin the CID has."

"Devil Fruit? I've heard about that. Never have I heard about survivors however", Law mumbled, partly for himself, partly for Bartolomeo. He had never thought that the drug really could be that affective. If the drug had been developed and become flawless, it could have been used as a deadly weapon. Luckily, it had been banned. The government must have realized that even if the drug would have given them a lot of strength, others would also have gotten their hands on it and misused it. A major war could have been the consequence.

The last team Law met was the Whitebeard team. There he met Ace, the freckled man he had run into an hour earlier. He hadn't been late after all, because Law had stopped by the other teams' offices first and then had proceeded to take a short break, mostly because Bartolomeo had to be calmed down after having both of his idols in the same room. Law had literally been forced to sit down with the nearly-hyperventilating man and wait for him to stop shaking of happiness.

Law learnt to know that the team was financially supported by Edward Newgate, the founder of the company _Whitebeard _that produced energy in a nature friendly manner. The company was well-known and had a high status, so to improve their status even more they had started to support governmental movements such as the CID. The people hired were people Newgate personally had met in the streets or in orphanages who were desperate for money or interested in working for a police force.

The Whitebeard team pretty much had the same kinds of investigations going on as Smoker's team had, only that they were more focused on getting rid of nuisance and arresting people than actually collect valuable information. Thusly, the team had mostly consisted of assassins and agents. The Whitebeard team was the most normal team in Law's opinion. They were the friendliest and kindest ones, but most importantly, the sanest ones too.

In a defeated manner, Law entered his own team's office after a long journey throughout the CID, only to find his desk and chair still missing. Letting out a loud, aggressive growl Law sat down on the small sofa in the room and took out his laptop. He noticed how the other workers gave him a weird look but he really didn't care. He was supposed to attend to a meeting in one hour to discuss the information gained and draw conclusions on how to go on. Currently, he had to prepare himself for the meeting, especially for the possible questions asking him how he ever had gotten his hands on all of that information. Well, he would of course tell them he had stolen it illegally and it would of course cause some ruckus, but it'd be fine.

Completely enveloped by his own concentration, Law failed to notice the white fluff that jumped up on the sofa next to him. He only noticed it when it jumped into his lap and started licking his face. Blinking in confusion, Law realized that the white fluff in his lap appeared to be a dog. Its fur was ridiculously fluffy and the dog resembled a ball of fluff more than a real dog. It breathed happily, its tongue haltering outside of its mouth, looking at Law with round, black but mostly happy eyes.

"Oh, Trafalgar, sorry! That's my dog!" Shachi stood up from his desk and sped up to his white dog, pulling him away. "He's always keen on getting to know new people but I suppose you are busy."

"Why is it here?" Law asked, looking at the cute dog in Shachi's arms. He hadn't minded the extra heater in his lap – the dog had been fluffy and warm after all.

"It's a _he _and his name is Bepo", Shachi explained, answering Law's question in no way at all. "The thing with Bepo is that he hates to be alone, so when I leave him alone at home he goes crazy and bites on every cord in the whole house. Last month he jumped on my TV, making it fall and break in the process. Haha, well, he's a troublemaker! But here's he's super nice! Right little Bepo? Hm? Are you trying to make Sha-chan happy?" Shachi buried his face in the long, fluffy fur and Law hated to admit it but he was very jealous. Now he also wanted to bury his face in the fluff ball.

"I see. As long as no one is allergic to him, it is okay, I guess", Law shrugged, continued to type on his laptop, secretly wishing for the dog to jump into his lap again. "And I didn't mind him at all, he was warm." Coughing awkwardly afterwards, Law tried to hide his embarrassment. He was desperate to have that fluffy thing in his lap again.

"Oh, okay. Then I'll release him again", Shachi let go of the white fluff and placed it down on the sofa. "Just tell me if he becomes bothersome!" Walking back to his own desk, Shachi seemed happy with the whole situation.

Law smiled at the dog that now lay in his lap again. This was going to be a good day.

O

Rushing through the crowd, he was holding onto the straps of his back pack.

It was three o'clock and the streets of Zou were filled with people. The usual sunny place was today completely gray. It was very boring, because the buildings surrounding him were gray as well, so almost everything around him felt very gray for the moment. The grayness wasn't completely bad, however, it made the colorful details stand out. His blazing red hair was probably very discernable, for example. And the little girl skipping past him had clothes that looked as if they were shining because of the grayness enveloping them.

Kidd didn't care about his ambient very much, he never had, but he had to admit that this extraordinary dullness around him felt a bit ironic. With his back pack filled with training clothes and a plastic bag in his hand, the tall, young man walked forwards with brisk steps. He had just finished his training session at the gym and had stopped by the convenience store to buy some ingredients for a proper dinner. The city closest to his apartment in Zou was currently overflowing with people and he tried to get home as soon as possible.

Looking forwards to see where he was going, Kidd spotted an interesting person in the crowd. It was a blonde, rather short woman, with shoulder-length hair and blue eyes. She had a similar caramel-like skin that Law had and her eyes also reminded the buff redhead of his missing boyfriend. But otherwise she was anything but Law-like. She was wide-shouldered and her thighs were thick. Her whole body appeared to be rock hard of muscle and her posture was anything but the sloppy, unhealthy-looking posture Law had. Not only that, she also walked forwards with great self-confidence, her body language screaming at the world that she was there, strong and ready to run a marathon or two.

Kidd couldn't stop staring at her, even when they passed he turned on his head to look at the young, buff lady. She was most likely going to the gym; she namely carried a big sports bag. Even if the skin and eyes reminded him of Law, she could impossibly be related to the said man at all. She was a direct contrast to Law – light hair, a self-confident way of moving, a good posture, a wide, big-boned body and literally so muscular that Kidd swore to god he never had seen a woman that buff before.

Yeah, she was impossibly related to Law.

V

Now the clock ticked a bit past ten in the evening and Kidd sat by the counter to his favorite bar downtown.

He felt miserable.

Where was Law? Why wasn't he replying to Kidd's messages? Or answering his calls? Kidd took a sip of his whiskey, not even quite sure if he was in the mood for any whiskey right now. He wasn't in the mood for anything anymore and everything just made him angry or frustrated. He had gone out for a walk to clear his mind after his dinner, but had somehow ended up in a bar with other miserable people waiting for a miracle to happen. Maybe this was his favorite bar because everyone was miserable here, together? He could go there and realize that he wasn't the only one who felt completely hopeless.

Some woman approached him but he brushed her off, muttering that he wasn't interested. Because honestly, he wasn't interested at all. He was only interested in knowing where Law was and how he was going to deliver his present to the other man. Finishing his whiskey, Kidd took out a chewing gum from his pocket, craving to chew on something in order to ease his frustration.

Then another person entered the bar and Kidd turned around to see who it was.

It was her, the young woman he had seen earlier today.

With observing eyes, he watched her sit down on one of the bar stools on the other end of the bar counter. He didn't know what to do, but he really wanted to learn to know that woman. She was somehow attracting Kidd and he wasn't really sure of why it was like that. Without pondering on the matter any further, the redhead stood up, walked over to the muscular lady and sat down.

"May I offer you a drink?" he didn't even try to sound flirty, but he knew that this sentence would be misunderstood. He took the chewing gum out of his mouth and put it into a paper napkin.

"Um, sorry, but I'm not interested in having relationships right now", she replied coldly, ordering a drink for herself. She ordered a Limoncello, which was utterly sweet. Kidd had never really liked the liquor, but ordered one for himself too. "What did I just say? I'm not interested. Get lost."

"Actually I'm gay, so I'm not interested in you either", Kidd replied bluntly, watching the woman take off her coat, revealing the bulging muscles adorning her wide arms, colored in the caramel-like skin that Kidd always had loved about Law.

"And let me guess, now you're making an exception for me, because I'm the 'only' woman who manages to attract you? Yeah, heard that one before", she replied, looking at Kidd with bored eyes. Apparently she was used to desperate guys already and she wasn't buying any bullshit. The self-confidence shined around her. It was beautiful.

"Have people told you that? In that case they were bisexual", Kidd smirked, taking a sip of his way too sweet liquor. The taste of lemon was nice, however, it gave the drink an extra kick. "No but seriously, I just came here because you remind me of someone."

This made the woman blink, then she burst out in laughter.

"C'mon! I've heard that one too!" she talked in between her laughter. "Do you seriously have nothing better to come with?"

"No, seriously, you look like my boyfriend. Like not a lot, it's just the eyes and the skin. And I would never fuck you, because my type is skinnier guys. You're too buff for me", Kidd replied, feeling a bit hurt about her laughing at him so openly and loudly.

"And I'm glad I'm buff. Because if someone would try to attack me, I'd just rip their balls off with my pinkies", the reply came gladly. She must have finally realized that Kidd wasn't there to get laid. "I knew you were gay all along though, I just wanted to see how far you'd take things."

"What?! You little shit..!" grinning playfully, Kidd started to notice that he really liked the company of this girl. "How the hell could you tell?"

"I don't know, instinct. And then you sounded really bothered when you tried to open the conversation. You really tried your best to make it obvious that you weren't here to pick up girls", shrugging lazily, she took another sip of her drink. "Ew this is disgustingly sweet… This bar's Limoncello isn't very nice. I know a better place but I felt miserable today."

"You too? Fuck, I've been miserable all week. Or ever since my boyfriend disappeared."

"He disappeared?"

"Well, he left me in order to some things. I don't know the details, he said it was personal, but he also said he'd be back. But he's gone and doesn't reply to my calls", Kidd replied, leaving out the part of Law being in prison as well. If he even was in prison. Honestly? Kidd had no clue of what had happened to the mysterious man.

"Hm. Odd", the woman looked down at her soon empty glass. "I've been searching for a person myself. He's very important for me. It's pretty much impossible for me to find him, because I haven't seen him since we were children. But I need to see him again. I just feel miserable because this person also seems to be lost."

"So he's also disappeared. That's just awesome – both of us here, miserable in a bar, searching for people who have mystically disappeared from Earth", emptying his glass, Kidd now took a new chewing gum from his pocket.

A silent moment occurred, both of them seemed to dig themselves deep into their mine of thoughts.

"You look as if you go to the gym a lot too", the woman suddenly remarked. "Would you ever be interested in training together? I bet you'll get a little challenge with me. I'm not your average lady after all."

"Sure, why not. But I bet you won't beat me when it comes to push-ups."

"Let's see about that, pretty boy."

Kidd grinned and felt sure that from now on he wouldn't feel as miserable anymore.

E

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><p>~Thanks for Reading~<p> 


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